On Tuesday, the Antioch City Council will discuss accepting grant funding in the amount of $750k from the US Department of Justice COPS Hiring Program to fund six (6) additional police officer positions who will serve as School Resource Officers.
The City of Antioch last had School Resource Officers more than a decade ago and due to limited police staffing, SRO’s were off the table. However, due to Measure C in 2013 and Measure W in 2018, police staffing levels is close to staffing allowed for SRO’s.
In response to a fatal shooting on January 31, 2020 at Deer Valley High School, in response to the community wanting law enforcement presence at schools, the police department submitted an application for the grant in March with the intent to assign one officer at each of the following schools:
- Antioch High School
- Deer Valley High School
- Antioch Middle School
- Black Diamond Middle School
- Dallas Ranch Middle School
- Park Middle School
On June 25, the police department was notified they were successful in obtaining the grant funding. The minimum requirement is this police officer position be used 75% of their time in and around the schools, working on youth-related activities. The deadline for Antioch to accept the grant is August 9, 2020.
The grant is for $750,000 over three years which amounts to $125k per officer position for the duration of the grant, or $41,667 per officer per year. The maximum cost of each officer including salary and benefits is $167,458 per year. The net cost to the city would start at $125,791 per police officer per year. If all six positions were filled, the initial cost would be approximately $754,756 the first year and increasing annually thereafter.
The staff report said the police department has worked with the Antioch Unified School District staff to obtain this grant funding and agreed if the city was awarded and accepted the grant, APD would be willing to provide financial assistance to the extent it has the available funding to do so.
AUSD has not yet determined an amount it could provide, but that would be determined by the superintendent and approval by the school board with any funding obtained from AUSD would be used to offset the city’s cost for the SRO positions.
Following the three-year grant cycle, APD would be required to retain these positions for at least one year and APD would be required to fund the positions of $41,667 per police officer initially covered by the grant.
The city anticipates if the grant is accepted, the fiscal budget could increase $3.2 million if AUSD is not able to help fund a portion of the cost.
Antioch will look at three options:
1.Council can adopt a resolution to accept grant funding in the amount of $750,000 from the US Department of Justice COPS Hiring Program to hire six (6) SROs with no contingencies on supplemental funding from AUSD.
- Council can adopt a resolution to accept grant funding in the amount of $750,000 from the US Department of Justice COPS Hiring Program to hire six (6) SROs, contingent upon supplemental funding from AUSD.
- Council can choose not to accept the grant funding in the amount of $750,000 from the US Department of Justice COPS Hiring Program to hire six (6) SROs.
City Council meeting Info
July 28, 2020 at 7:00 pm
Members of the public seeking to observe the meeting may do so at https://www.antiochca.gov/live_stream , on Comcast Channel 24,or AT&T U-Verse Channel 99.
Members of the public wishing to provide public comment may do so in the following ways (#2 pertains to the Zoom Webinar):
- Fill out an online speaker card located at: https://www.antiochca.gov/speaker_card
- Provide oral public comments during the meeting by clicking the following link to register in advance to access the meeting via Zoom Webinar: https://www.antiochca.gov/speakers –
- You will be asked to enter an email address and a name. Your email address will not be disclosed to the public. After registering, you will receive an email with instructions on how to connect to the
- When the Mayor announces public comments, click the “raise hand” feature in Zoom. For instructions on using the “raise hand” feature in Zoom, visit: https://www.antiochca.gov/raise_hand .
- Email comments to [email protected] prior to the Mayor announcing that public comment is closed, and the comment will be read into the record at the meeting (350 words maximum, up to 3 minutes, at the discretion of the Mayor). IMPORTANT: Identify the agenda item in the subject line of your email if the comment is for Announcement of Community Events, General Comment, or a specific Agenda Item number. All emails received will be entered into the record for the meeting.
Staff Report:
https://www.antiochca.gov/fc/government/agendas/CityCouncil/2020/agendas/072820/072820.pdf
4 comments
Hire everyone you can for the police department, before the TEMPER TANTRUM liberal Un-American Democrats start calling for defunding police in Antick
Great to hear! These SRO positions are beneficial to the security of the campus but more importantly, to the relationships that are built !
Lets hope the city is smart enough to out safety over political grand standing!!
But but but.. they’ll unfairly arrest and harass one race! Because all cops are bad and everyone that isn’t that race is racist!
APD should get the money as soon as possible before the so called city counsel puts it in there own pockets. They already stole funds for themselves for a 70% raise that they didn’t deserve much less earn. This counsel will put money in there pockets any chance they get. APD wil do what is right as they have been doing all along. Make sure APD counts every penny and that not one cent is missing because this counsel and mayor are very shady!!
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