Funding/Grant Assistance Help

[FreshDave04]

I've recently joined a very small department that serves a population of about 650-700 permanent residents. We have 3 full time officers and 5 reserves. We have a major university that immediately borders us to the south... we have that as a potential assistance call. Also, we have multiple hotels (a lot of our tax base) that are filled to capacity during home football games. Our funding from the town is limited, to say the least. In fact, they're operating at a deficit currently, which makes us ineligible for any stimulus funding (found that out due to road repair proposals).


I've been charged with trying to find some new resource avenues, other than writing citations every day to the already cash strapped citizens. To be honest, I don't know where to begin. We don't have the funds to hire people for grant writing/assistance - this has to be done, basically, entirely through me. Any thoughts? Ideas?


Needs/Wants (in no particular order):


*Uniforms


*Radar


*TASER's


*Cameras.


*MDT's


*PBT's


*Vest Carriers


*Tactical Vests


*Duty Gear


*Patrol Vehicles


*Emergency Lighting


*Ballistic Vests


*Tactical Shotguns


*Patrol Rifles

 

[FreshDave04]

...Bueller? :?

 

[Stendec]

Uh, do you actually have a department? I mean, if you still need uniforms and cars.......?


Does your city have a bed tax on the hotels? Sometimes counties and states have what are known a Furtherance of Justice funds that are available to use in special circumstances, but they aren't supposed to be a steady fiscal source. Most fed grants, and there are tons of them, are for programs, and not general operating costs. You might see if the businesses would form a coalition to lease some of the hardware. Your state probably has a surplus property and reutilization program that could supply materials, of varying condition, at minimal cost. The feds have similar programs.


You also have to decide what you need, versus what you want, and establish priorities. i couldn't help but notice that your list didn't include "inservice training" or "community outreach programming."


Bottom line, fair or unfair, some agencies are just too small to effectively exist. In the worst case scenario, they turn into literal speedtraps, and cause far more problems than they solve. And police departments are money drains. Those street repairs might have taken priority because theoretically they could contribute to increased traffic, increased business and a happy population and visitor base, whereas the cops, while having intrinsic value, maybe at best contribute to lower crime rates and a better rep.


I don't think I've ever met a cop who didn't want more/newer/different/"better" stuff. The good ones improvise, adapt and overcome.

 

[FreshDave04]

Uh, do you actually have a department? I mean, if you still need uniforms and cars.......?

Yes. We do have an actual department. The paid guys have uniforms, obviously. Other than outfitting them with jackets and traffic vests, our reserves are left to fend for themselves when it comes to uniforms.


In regards to cars, we have 5 in our "fleet"; a new unmarked Dodge Charger (for the chief), 2004 CVPI, 2002 CVPI, 2002 Impala, and (unknown year) unmarked Taurus. The '02 CVPI and Impala could use replacing.

Does your city have a bed tax on the hotels? Sometimes counties and states have what are known a Furtherance of Justice funds that are available to use in special circumstances, but they aren't supposed to be a steady fiscal source. Most fed grants, and there are tons of them, are for programs, and not general operating costs. You might see if the businesses would form a coalition to lease some of the hardware. Your state probably has a surplus property and reutilization program that could supply materials, of varying condition, at minimal cost. The feds have similar programs.

The county has a hotel/motel tax, that we see little money from. Because they get their water/sewage service from a larger city to our south, that city gets the majority of the tax income.

You also have to decide what you need, versus what you want, and establish priorities. i couldn't help but notice that your list didn't include "inservice training" or "community outreach programming."

We belong to a local "regional police academy." The town pays a one time fee, each year, and we attend as many classes as we'd like. For instance, I'm attending 2 classes in October: the classroom portion of EVO and a pharmacy drug interdiction class. I'm up to date in defensive tactics, which is also offered in the not to distant future.

Bottom line, fair or unfair, some agencies are just too small to effectively exist. In the worst case scenario, they turn into literal speedtraps, and cause far more problems than they solve. And police departments are money drains. Those street repairs might have taken priority because theoretically they could contribute to increased traffic, increased business and a happy population and visitor base, whereas the cops, while having intrinsic value, maybe at best contribute to lower crime rates and a better rep.

You may have hit it on the head, right here. We have a section of a 5 line state highway that runs through our town... they've designated it as a 35mph. We run traffic quite a bit on this stretch of road, but only see about $3/ticket from the state, on any citations we write. The town can't even afford to repair the streets, because the previous administration ran the town into the red - this has resulted in the town being ineligible for federal stimulus dollars for road repairs.... if your municipality is in the red, the feds refuse to give you any cash, for fear you'll use it to balance the books, instead of using funs for the project you specifically requested it for. Thankfully, that old regime is gone, and the coffers are beginning to fill again.

I don't think I've ever met a cop who didn't want more/newer/different/"better" stuff. The good ones improvise, adapt and overcome.

We're doing the best we can, with what we have. Adaptation is definitely the name of the game... which is why I'm pursuing other avenues for financial assistance.

 

[Fast LT1]

In all honesty for the uniforms, we had to buy our own, so you really learn how to take care of your shit, and don't eat anything you can get on your uniform.


Um most things in small towns can be handled with a ballistic vest, a glock 21, a baton, pepper spray, streamlight, and handcuffs! No need for lots of large tactical equipment such as external vests, ar-15's etc... My city is 300,000 and most officers don't have half the crap you have on your list! And you can pick up a cheap used mossberg 500 for the cars, can be purchased for about $150 bucks.


But for the funding part, do a local car washes, bbq's, or do some private security! We even had expos where we would have vehicles and equipment lined up for citizens to try out and look at and we asked for donations, that always turned a hefty profit!

 

[Stendec]

I can't put you in touch with him, so you'll have to do the detective work, but contact the head of security at the Easton Shopping Center in Columbus, Ohio. If I understand the arrangement, and their isn't any guarantee that I do, they literally bought Columbus PD cars that were only to be used by officers working the shopping center and immediate area, and not as general duty district cars, or whatever they call them there.


Given the size of your department, maybe the hotels could be conned into doing a similar thing, though I've seen plenty of agencies larger than yours that had smaller fleets.


Cool arrangement with you Academy. I spent some time at a huge academy where you paid for everything, and at the end of the class they asked for their pens and any unused notebook paper back.


Some banks will do low/no interest personal loans to officers for armor purchases. The ethics people I spoke to said that there weren't any issues for an officer to take out such a loan in those circumstances, as opposed to getting a preferential interest rate on a bass boat.