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Public Safety Projects
Several federal grants programs that provide support for public-safety related projects are included in the federal stimulus package. These grants can be used for technical assistance, training, personnel, equipment, supplies, contractual support, and information systems for criminal justice.
Building Fire Stations
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) provides the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with $210 million to fund the construction and modification of fire stations to improve basic response capacity and firefighter safety. The program will be administered by the Assistance to Firefighters Program Office under FEMA's Grant Programs Directorate. The grants under this new program will be awarded directly to the fire departments on a competitive basis. The grants are capped at $15 million per recipient and must be spent within 36 months of receiving the award. Seattle submitted its proposal on July 10, 2009.
Proposal |
Amount
Requested
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Source
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Status |
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Seattle's Proposal
Thanks to a levy approved by voters in November 2003, Seattle is upgrading, renovating, or replacing 32 neighborhood fire stations. This grant will replace tax revenues jeopardized by the economic crisis. Funds will renovate Fire Station 14 in SoDo and replace Fire Station 6 in the Central Area and Fire Station 21 in Greenwood.
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$15 million
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DHS
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Not recommended for funding
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Targeting Gang Crime
The ARRA provides $2 billion for the U.S. Department of Justice's Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program. Sixty percent of the allocation is awarded directly to a state and 40 percent is set aside for units of local governments. These awards assist local and tribal efforts to prevent or reduce crime and violence. On June 3, 2009, Gov. Chris Gregoire announced the Washington State Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development (CTED) was awarded $22.4 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds to administer Edward J. Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grants across Washington. CTED provided approximately $6 million of that to the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC) for grants focused on gang prevention and suppression. These one-time-only awards are for the July 2009-June 2010 fiscal year, must be used primarily for staff retention, and proposals should reflect a multijurisdictional approach to gang suppression with measurable outcomes. Seattle submitted an application for a $764,846 grant on behalf of itself and eight other jurisdictions on June 5, 2009, requesting $370,645 for itself.
Proposal |
Amount
Requested
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Source
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Status |
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Targeting Gang Crime
Beginning in February 2008, the Seattle Police Department began a unique and successful collaboration with law enforcement agencies throughout south King County to address the rise in gang violence. Part of this effort was funded through an earlier WASPC grant that provided overtime money for law enforcement agencies to conduct joint emphasis operations. This has proven an effective mechanism for addressing the cross-jurisdictional issues that have made interdicting in gang violence so difficult. In addition, the group meets regularly to share information, providing leads on individual cases and gang members, which has led to faster apprehension and stronger criminal cases being presented to the Prosecutor's Office and opening avenues for federal prosecution. Funds from the new WASPC grant would build on the success of the previous grant. Local law enforcement agencies, including Seattle, will use the money to pay overtime so staff can continue focusing on special enforcement, intervention and prevention of gang violence. In addition, Auburn, Burien, Federal Way and Seattle will use the money to hire or retain staff for the same purpose. Seattle proposes creating a position to coordinate all efforts currently under way across the various jurisdictions.
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$371,000*
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CTED/WASPC
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Recommended for funding
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*The total ARRA award for the CTED administered Byrne/JAG Formula is $764,846. From this total, Seattle will receive $371,000, of which $254,000 is budgeted for regional overtime that will be distributed to Seattle and other regional jurisdictions. The balance of the $764,846 award will be used to fund staffing costs in Burien, Auburn and Federal Way.
Retaining Staff, Adding Equipment
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides $2 billion for the U.S. Department of Justice's Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program. Sixty percent of the allocation is awarded directly to a state and 40 percent is set aside for units of local governments. These awards assist local and tribal efforts to prevent or reduce crime and violence. JAG Program funds can be used for a variety of efforts, such as law enforcement programs, prosecution and court programs, prevention and education programs, and drug treatment programs. In addition to program-specific efforts, projects funded under the Recovery Act should be designed to further one or more of the general purposes of the Act. These include preserving and creating jobs to promote economic recovery, assisting those most impacted by the recession, and stabilizing state and local government budgets to avoid reductions in essential services.
Proposal |
Amount
Received
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Source
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Status |
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Seattle's Proposal
On May 20, 2009, King County and 18 of its cities eligible for these funds announced they had reached agreement on the allocation of a $4.9 million federal stimulus grant awarded earlier this year. These funds are available for state and local law enforcement and criminal justice assistance. The federal procedure for allocating JAG grants is based on a formula of population and violent crime statistics. In some cases local jurisdictions have to decide the funding split themselves, as was the case here. King County will receive $1.3 million. Seattle will receive $2 million, 3.7 percent of which will support grant administration by Seattle on behalf of all recipients. Seventeen cities will receive allocations ranging from $11,000 to $307,000.
Seattle has proposed using the money as follows:
- $1.6 million to retain crime prevention staff (6 positions) and victim advocates (7 positions);
- $184,000 to purchase roughly 126 tasers and train police officers in their use; and
- $107,000 to help pay for JustServeAmericorp and VISTA Volunteers. Three of these volunteers would work for the Seattle Police Department, assisting with community outreach and domestic violence victim support; four would work for the Law Department, supporting Seattle's Community Court, three would work for the Department of Parks and Recreation supporting the SeattleYouth Violence Prevention Initiative programs at the Garfield, Rainier Beach and Southwest teen centers, as well as initiative activities at Langston Hughes, and one would work for the Urban League supporting SeattleYouth Violence Prevention Initiative outeach.
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$2 million
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DOJ JAG
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Recommended for funding
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Protecting Our Community
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides $225 million for the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Edward Byrne Competitive Grant Program. Grant funds can be used for initiatives in eight areas:
- preventing and reducing violent crime through community-based data-driven approaches;
- providing funding for neighborhood-based probation and parole officers;
- reducing mortgage fraud and crime related to vacant properties;
- hiring of civilian support personnel in law enforcement (training staff, analysts, dispatchers, etc.);
- enhancing forensic and crime scene investigations;
- improving resources and services for victims of crime;
- supporting problem-solving courts; and
- national training and technical assistance partnerships.
Applicants may be national, regional, state, or local public and private entities, including for-profit (commercial) and nonprofit organizations, faith-based and community organizations, institutions of higher education, tribal jurisdictions, and units of local government that support the purpose areas of this grant program. Priority will be given to applications that demonstrate the use of evidence-based practices and/or data-driven strategies. Applications were due April 27 and Seattle submitted five proposals totaling nearly $4 million.
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Proposal
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Amount
Requested
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Funding
Source
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Status
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Youth Violence Intervention
The Youth Violence Intervention Project would have complemented the Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative, which is now being implemented. The initiative focuses on about 800 children a year who are at highest risk of perpetuating violence or becoming victims. It helps youth with repeat offenses re-enter society from state detention programs; provides alternatives for youth who are arrested for crimes, but released because they don't meet the admission criteria for county detention; helps middle-school truants and students at risk of suspension stay in school and succeed; and prevents victims of violence and their friends and relatives from continuing the cycle of violence through retaliation. The Youth Violence Intervention Project would have filled gaps in the overall Initiative by focusing on intervention and suppression by using law enforcement, criminal justice and community-based human services organizations to address the myriad issues at play when dealing with violent young offenders. It would have referred eligible individuals who would benefit from services to social services and job opportunities, including those created specifically for the Initiative. If Seattle had received this grant, the money would have been used specifically to:
- Pair Seattle police officers with King County Juvenile Court Probation Officers to proactively patrol to ensure that young offenders are adhering to their probation conditions;
- Send a message to frequent, youthful offenders that they will be held accountable for their behaviors (this strategy is modeled on the approach of the Drug Market Intervention developed in High Point, North Carolina);
- Support joint regional law enforcement operations that address the cross-jurisdictional issues raised by youth/gang violence; and
- Develop a training curriculum to ensure that the initiative's street outreach workers, who will be supporting all of these efforts, have the skills necessary to work as part of this multidisciplinary team.
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$1.3 million
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DOJ Byrne Competitive Grants
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Not recommended for funding
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Neighborhood Corrections Initiative (NCI)
Developed in 1997, the NCI program is a law enforcement and corrections partnership between Seattle police officers and Washington State Department of Corrections (DOC) community corrections specialists to increase public safety and reduce violent crimes among chronic habitual offenders and sexual predators. The NCI program is designed to apprehend the most high-risk violent offenders and proactively patrol Seattle neighborhoods to provide an enhanced level of supervision for prior offenders under DOC supervision. One measure of the program's effectiveness is that it makes more than 10,000 offender contacts annually in the city of Seattle alone. NCI has a direct impact on recidivism, and helps change individual offenders' lives by working with them to find solutions to housing, mental health diagnoses and substance abuse issues. If Seattle had received this grant, the money would have be used to retain four of the six DOC community corrections specialists (CCS) that may be cut from the state budget and add one additional CCS to sustain the effort that recently began as a foot patrol in downtown Seattle's Belltown neighborhood. If funded, this position would have been available in this and other downtown trouble spots.
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$855,000 |
DOJ Byrne Competitive Grants |
Not recommended for funding |
Civilianization of Sworn Dispatcher Personnel
The Seattle Police 911 Center is the public safety answering point for all police, fire, and medical emergencies within the city limits. Located in downtown Seattle, the 911 Center is the busiest emergency call center in Washington, receiving more than 2,000 calls a day. The 911 Center is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Call Center staff are supervised by five sworn police sergeants. If Seattle had received this grant, it would have reassigned these sergeants to field operations to support implementation of the department's Neighborhood Policing Plan and hired new civilian supervisors with the correct training and experience to supervise all call takers and dispatchers. |
$1.1 million |
DOJ Byrne Competitive Grants |
Not recommended for funding |
Graffiti Investigation and Prosecution
Seattle makes a significant effort to rapidly detect and eradicate graffiti as soon as it occurs. All City departments must remove graffiti from public property within seven days and hate or racist graffiti within 24 hours. Private citizens must remove graffiti from their property within 10 days of receipt of a notice that their property is a potential graffiti nuisance or potentially face civil fines. The City's graffiti hotline is the portal through which residents can report graffiti on public or private property. A database is maintained to track such reports and assist with scheduling cleanup activities. "Graffiti Rangers" clean graffiti off public property they administer and on private property with owner consent. Seattle Community Court defendants assist those cleanup efforts as they perform their community service as part of their sentences. Despite these efforts, Seattle can do more and will use these federal funds to fill gaps in its anti-graffiti response through collaboration between the Seattle Police Department and the Seattle City Attorney's Office. If it had received this grant, this money would have been used to hire a detective, attorney and an assistant for both, which would have significantly improved the City's capacity to investigate and prosecute graffiti offenders, particularly chronic graffiti taggers and gang taggers, and hold such offenders accountable. The money would also have been used to improve public awareness and reporting of graffiti offenses. |
$547,000 |
DOJ Byrne Competitive Grants |
Not recommended for funding |
Prostituted Youth Victim Advocate
A 2008 City of Seattle report identified 238 prostitution-involved youth in the Seattle area in 2007, by reviewing 1,528 case files from 16 agencies. Currently, only one dedicated case manager serves prostitution-involved youth housed in juvenile detention, and no dedicated advocates or case managers serving nonadjudicated, prostitution-involved youth in Seattle. In addition, there are no options in our region for specialized housing and recovery services designed for these youth, and existing services are not prepared to meet the extraordinary needs of this highly specialized population. Seattle and key stakeholders are working to implement a Residential Recovery Program for Prostituted Youth that will begin operations in July 2009. Seattle will select a single agency to manage this program. Now that Seattle has received this Byrne grant, the money will be used to hire a victim advocate for youth involved in prostitution. This advocate will identify, engage and support prostituted youth to gain safety, navigate complex systems, and gain access to existing services, including the forthcoming Residential Recovery Pilot Program for Prostituted Youth. The ultimate goal is for these youth to leave prostitution, reintegrate into society, and maintain a stable, productive, crime-free and independent life. |
$146,000 |
DOJ Byrne Competitive Grants |
Recommended for funding |
Hiring Police Officers
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides $1 billion for the Department of Justice's (DOJ) COPS Hiring Recovery Program (CHRP), which will create or save approximately 5,500 law enforcement officer jobs across the country. CHRP funds provide 100 percent of entry-level salary and benefits for each officer for three years. All jurisdictions receiving funding must plan to retain CHRP-funded officer positions for at least one year after the grant ends. CHRP funds can be used to hire new officers, rehire recently laid off officers, fill unfunded vacancies and help prevent scheduled layoffs within law enforcement agencies. These federal funds will be distributed directly to the local level governments and law enforcement agencies through a competitive application process that takes into account the impact of the current economic crisis on applicant agencies, as well as crime statistics and plans for initiating and advancing community policing. Applications were due April 14, 2009.
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Proposal
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Amount
Requested
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Funding
Source
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Status
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COPS Hiring Recovery Program
In January 2008, the Seattle Police Department (SPD) implemented a Neighborhood Policing Plan to address three public-safety-related issues: officer deployment and workloads, 911 response times, and the lack of time available for officers to do proactive community policing work on chronic crime and safety-related problems. As part of this new plan, a fixed number of new police officer positions have been budgeted by the City. The CHRP grant money would allow SPD to hire up to 26 new officers. Without federal assistance, these sworn positions may not be possible in the current fiscal climate. Of these additional officers, 21 will focus on proactive community policing work. The other five will be utilized as School Resource Officers and will work collaboratively with the Seattle School District to strengthen public safety in and around selected high schools in Seattle.
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$7.8 million
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DOJ COPS
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Not recommended for funding
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Protecting Our Children
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides $50 million for the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) program initiatives. The ICAC program supports a national network of 59 coordinated task forces, representing more than 2,000 federal, state, and local law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies engaged in proactive investigations, forensic examinations, and criminal prosecutions. Seattle has received a grant under this program; the date of the award is to be determined. Seattle submitted its proposal on April 7, 2009.
Proposal |
Amount
Received
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Source
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Status |
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Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force
Seattle is the lead ICAC agency for 44 affiliate agencies (a combination of cities, sheriff departments, and tribal and university police departments) in Washington State. Seattle has received a $848,000 grant to strengthen and increase the region capacity of the affiliates and number of ICAC investigations, as well as preserve or create jobs. Seattle proposes hiring staff to investigate child pornorgraphy cases, providing training to all affiliates, and purchasing a van to be used as an interview/interrogation platform and digital evidence lab that will provide logistical support to all WA State ICAC affiliates.
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$848,000
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DOJ ICAC grant
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Recommended for funding
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We will update this page with information regarding our specific proposals as they are submitted.
Bids for federal stimulus projects are posted on the City Purchasing Bid Advertisements & Announcements Web site.
Updated: October 8, 2009
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