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HomeMy WebLinkAbout31 - Crime Prevention Project0 CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH POLICE DEPARTMENT December 13, 1999 December 13, 1999 Item No. 31 TO: Honorable Mayor, Members of the City Council and City Manager FROM: Bob McDonell, Chief of Police SUBJECT: Local Law Enforcement Block Grant — Crime Prevention Program RECOMMENDATION: Receive public comments and accept continued funding of the Crime Prevention Program under the provisions of United States Department of Justice Local Law Enforcement Block Grant 98LBVX3097 and its successor grant under the federal 1999/2001 budget period (currently in the application process). BACKGROUND: • Since 1996, the Police Department has been the recipient of block grant funds administered by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice. The initial grant was used to establish a Crime Prevention Program and hire a full -time Civilian Crime Prevention Specialist. The block grant program has been renewed each year since its inception and each renewal has been used to continue the Crime Prevention Program. The current award for this year is $61,102. The program has been well received by the community and can be judged a success by any standard. I am very satisfied with the progress of the program to date and we are continually adding to the scope of its operations. Attached is a progress report submitted by Sergeant Mike McDermott in which he discusses accomplishments and recent developments in the program. Administrative requirements of the Federal process mandate that the grant be presented for public comment prior to funds being expended. This requirement will be satisfied by inclusion of this recommendation as a City Council meeting agenda item and allowing the opportunity for public input on the planned expenditure. Respectfu submitted, • Bob McDonell CHIEF OF POLICE CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH POLICE DEPARTMENT November 19, 1999 TO: Bob McDonell, Chief of Police FROM: Mike McDermott, Community Relations Sergeant SUBJECT: Annual Crime Prevention Grant Summary Since 1996, LLEBG funds have been used to operate a Crime Prevention Program. The program has continued to be successful in meeting its goals of preventing crime, disseminating correct and realistic information about criminal activity and crime prevention, and enhancing the perception of security within the community. The program has expanded its role and has become one of the most visible outreach programs in the City of Newport Beach. One of the most basic elements of the Crime Prevention Program is community participation in Neighborhood Watch. Participation increased in the Neighborhood Watch programs at a significant level over the past year. More groups were formed and more block captains have been added to the program. Existing Neighborhood Watch groups continue to meet, even when there are no visible crime trends in their neighborhood. This is different than in past years when the groups met in reaction to some significant crime event in the neighborhood. A significant expansion of the Crime Prevention Program took place this year when we added a part-time Crime Prevention Specialist by reallocating existing part-time funding within the Department. This individual is primarily responsible for administrating our Citizen's Police Academy. The Citizen's Police Academy provides members of the Community a twelve -week course on police operations, crime prevention and investigative techniques. Persons completing the course are then eligible to apply to join a newly formed Police Volunteer Program. We currently have ten volunteers providing nearly 200 hours a month of service to the Police Department. Many of these hours are specifically in crime prevention; doing tasks such as home vacation checks and distributing crime alert bulletins. The volunteers also assist in other non - critical areas of department operations, freeing up full -time employees to devote more time in the field. This program is continuing to grow and will ultimately have thirty to forty volunteers. Another major growth area in the Crime Prevention program this year has been in the area of home and business security inspections. The Crime Prevention Specialist provides this service to any resident or business that requests it. She will respond to the requester's location and check security measures in place, then offer suggestions • on ways to better secure the location, if necessary, and make it a less attractive target Annual Crime Prevention Grant Summary Page 2 for criminals. Most inspections of commercial sites result in a written report to the requester detailing the findings. Demand for commercial site security inspections has increased to the point where we are now being asked for input prior to projects being built. In order to better service this demand, we sent our Crime Prevention Specialist to a state run Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design course. Increased demand for this service at residential sites has led us to train some of the volunteers mentioned above to perform this function. This past year saw our original Crime Prevention Specialist, Kathy Lowe, transition from full -time to part-time. She was replaced by Andrea Querry, who came to us from San Bernardino PD after working in the crime prevention field there. Kathy had done much to shape our program and make it successful from its inception. Her long -term commitment to Newport Beach made her someone who the members of the community quickly warmed up to. While she is now primarily responsible for running our Citizen's Police Academy, she remains available to assist Andrea in crime prevention. Kathy's continued presence on staff has allowed us to maintain continuity with the program and has done much to insure its continued success. Our overall crime statistics in property crimes, the area most targeted by our Crime Prevention Program, continue to drop. The increased visibility of that program has enabled us to get accurate information about crime and crime prevention to more people in a timely manner that ever before. Our Citizen's Police Academy has sent nearly a hundred residents back to the community to reassure their friends and neighbors that the City is well policed and that crime is being addressed at all levels. It is also feeding our Volunteer Program, which is freeing up more resources for traditional police functions. All of these initiatives combined have contributed to the Crime Prevention Program continuing to meet its stated goals. Mike McDermott, Sergeant Community Relations