The 2017 COPS Hiring Program (CHP) provides funding to law enforcement agencies to hire and/or rehire career law enforcement officers in an effort to increase their community policing capacity and crime prevention efforts. The Flagstaff Police Department has experienced an exponential growth of student housing that has been a challenging community issue and it will continue to cause community concern for several years.  The additional officers obtained under this grant will assist the Department in moving towards an eight-squad format.  This eighth squad would handle calls for service associated with the large-scale student housing properties and surrounding neighborhoods and assume our Crime Fee Multi Housing initiatives to address criminal behavior related to student housing.  This squad would also be involved with various community policing projects in and around the properties.

The funding under this project is for the payment of two officers full-time entry-level salaries and fringe benefits over three years (for a total of 36 months of funding) up to a maximum federal share of $125,000 per officer position for career law enforcement officer positions hired and/or rehired on or after the official award start date. Any salary and fringe benefit costs higher than entry-level that the City pays a CHP-funded officer must be paid with local funds.  The grant award is in the amount of $250,000 and the city will be required to match $339,571 for a grand total award of $589,571.

                                                          Per officer          Grand Total
Salaries and Fringe Benefits            $294,785.69         $589,571.00
Federal share                                   $125,000.00         $250,000.00 
Applicant share                                $169,785.50         $339,571.00

This grant is budgeted in FY 2018 in account number 001-04-062-6056-2-4101 in the amount of $570,560.  The City has budgeted and set aside $430,000 in the General Fund for the city's match.

The Flagstaff Police Department adopts the community policing strategy and wishes to enhance community policing activities with the two new COPS officers.  On May 19, 2015, the City Council approved a revised ordinance prohibiting nuisance parties/gatherings that have been determined to be a threat to the peace, health, safety or investigative follow up after the initial call.  The approval of the two new officers grant for a student housing squad will permit a flexible shift assignment to allow for proper investigative follow up to be conducted, and allow officers to notify property managers and/or property owners in an effort to work together to resolve problems and reduce the numbers of incidents, repeat offenders, thus reducing the overall number of calls for service.

Council Goal:  Social Justice - Advance social justice in the community. 
                        Personnel:  Attract and Retain Quality Staff (Ensure adequate public safety staffing levels)

Strategic Plan:  Work in partnership to enhance a safe and livable community.

Yes, Council approved the 2009 COPS Recovery Hiring Grant in 10/06/2009 and the 2011 COPS Hiring Grant in 11/22/2011.

- Approve grant agreement to hire two new officers
- Do not approve grant agreement and not hire two new officers which will be detrimental to the Police Department staffing levels.

The economic downturn that began in 2008 dramatically affected many cities across our nation and Flagstaff was no exception.  In 2008 the Department was required to reduce its budget by 19%.  Unfortunately, the Department is still attempting to recover from this downturn with respect to patrol staffing.  The Department has not been granted any new officer positions since 2008 due to continuing budget constraints and our patrol staffing levels are currently 9% below 2009 levels.  Population growth since 2008 has resulted in an increase of calls for service and pent-up demand.  We have seen a considerable increase in our calls for service at student housing properties.

Therefore, on June 6, 2017, the Flagstaff Police Department submitted a grant application to the COPS Hiring Program for 6 Police Officers.  On November 1, 2017, the City was informed that we were awarded two officer positions(s) and $250,000 in federal funds for a three-year award period.  The local cash match required for the award is $339,571.  The need for the new officers is due to an exponential growth of student housing which has been a challenging community issue that will continue to cause a community concern for several years.  Public safety, economic development, community character and affordable housing are all impacted by student housing growth.  In recent years the Flagstaff Police Department (FPD) has responded to an increasing number of quality of life issues associated with crime and disorder at large student housing properties which are specifically designed and built for the students of Northern Arizona University (NAU).  These student housing properties are located off of NAU's campus and the FPD is the responding agency for calls for service.  The NAU Police Department has jurisdictional boundaries dedicated to calls for service on campus.  The majority of our calls for service require a substantial expenditure of police resources, both in staffing and equipment.

This grant will provide the designated uniformed police officers that will work with our citizens to reduce crime and disorder, thus improving the quality of life for all residents in and around the student housing neighborhoods.

The top priority for a patrol officer is responding to calls for service.  In 2008 our patrol officers responded to 43,937 calls for service. In 2016 our officers responded to 46,707.  This represents a 6.3% increase in calls for service.  The local economic condition has been intensified by state-level reductions in shared revenue.  For these reasons, the COPS Hiring grant will help close the gap by funding officers to work directed patrols in student housing neighborhoods which will allow us to address non-violent crime problems and quality of life issues.

This grant is highly competitive. There were 179 total awards granted, 802 total officer positions funded and was a total amount of $98,495,397 in 2017 CHP awards.  Of the total number of awards, Arizona received 4 officers - 2 for the City of Flagstaff, Flagstaff Police Department for the problem focus area Quality of Life Problem and 2 for the Town of Sahuarita for the Domestic/Family Violence problem focus area.

This grant will enable the Police Department to move towards forming a squad of officers to specifically work in and around the student housing neighborhoods and collaborate with Northern Arizona University, residents and students to improve quality of life in these areas.