ACTION REQUESTED:
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Communication from the City Manager and the Chief of Police with a Request to APPROVE and ACCEPT the PARTNERSHIPS TO REDUCE VIOLENT CRIME GRANT from the ILLINOIS CRIMINAL JUSTICE INFORMATION AUTHORITY.
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BACKGROUND: In April 2016, the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA) identified Peoria County as one of a limited group of counties eligible to apply for funding to create partnerships to reduce violent crime by building local research and evaluation capacity, completing the Problem-Oriented Policing Scanning, Analysis, Response and Assessment (SARA) process, and implementing procedural justice and focused deterrence. The City of Peoria applied for this grant in June 2016.
In 2013, the City of Peoria began a focused deterrence strategy, called the Don’t Shoot initiative, modeled after the theories of Dr. David Kennedy at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, to help efficiently and effectively deploy resources to the small percent of residents who are committing the majority of the violent gang and gun related crimes in the city. This is achieved in a number of innovative ways, often by directly interacting with offenders and communicating clear incentives for compliance and defining consequences for criminal activity. These approaches all focus on high rate offenders, who are usually gang members and/or drug dealers.
Our application proposed to use these funds to support the law enforcement focused deterrence efforts of the Don’t Shoot team. The funds would pay for a research team to coordinate with community stakeholders using statistical analysis and policy expertise to identify at-risk individuals and develop evidence-based interventions. The Don’t Shoot team is composed of representatives from the Peoria Police Department, the State’s Attorney’s Office, the Peoria County Sheriff’s Office, the US Attorney’s Office, Peoria County Probation, and the City of Peoria.
The City of Peoria has been awarded $265,079.51 for the year one planning phase. The majority of this year one funding will support the research team from the University of Illinois at Chicago to guide the stakeholders through the planning phase. Funding for year two and three has not yet been determined by ICJIA, but will be used for training and implementation identified and developed by the stakeholders over the course of year one.
FINANCIAL IMPACT: The City is currently in the process of hiring a Project Manager for the Don’t Shoot initiative, with an estimated cost of $88,000. This cost will count as the City of Peoria’s match for the grant.
NEIGHBORHOOD CONCERNS: None
IMPACT IF APPROVED: Acceptance of this grant authorizes the City Manager, Chief Financial Officer and the Chief of Police to execute the agreement with ICJIA on behalf of the City of Peoria. The state government, through this award, would pay for an independent research team to facilitate strategic planning with community stakeholders and the Don’t Shoot team to identify gaps in the current Don’t Shoot initiative model, and lay the groundwork for collaborations to overcome those gaps.
IMPACT IF DENIED: Grant funds to fill gaps in the current Don’t Shoot initiative model would not be available, and alternate funding sources would need to be identified. Additionally, agencies that do not receive year one funding are not eligible for the training and implementation funds (year two and three) from the state.
ALTERNATIVES: There are no recognized alternatives at this time
EEO CERTIFICATION NUMBER:
WHICH OF THE GOALS IDENTIFIED IN THE COUNCIL’S 2014 - 2029 STRATEGIC PLAN DOES THIS RECOMMENDATION ADVANCE?
1. Financially Sound City Government, Effective City Organization
WHICH CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTOR(S) FROM THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN DOES THIS RECOMMENDATION IMPLEMENT?
1. Reduce crime.
2. Have an efficient government.
DEPARTMENT: Police