REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Action on the Office of Traffic Safety Selective Traffic Enforcement Program Grant and Related Budget Amendment
Report
BACKGROUND
The California Office of Traffic Safety's (OTS) mission is to effectively and efficiently administer traffic safety grant funds to reduce traffic deaths, injuries and economic losses.
Funding is dependent on OTS rankings. OTS rankings were developed so individual cities can compare their traffic safety statistics with cities of comparable population sizes. Data for the rankings is taken from several agencies, including the California Highway Patrol, Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System, California Department of Transportation, California Department of Justice and the Department of Finance. These figures identify emerging or on-going traffic safety problem areas. OTS rankings are one of several factors utilized to determine OTS grant funding. With this information, individual agencies can develop a plan to combat these issues.
Following approval from the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, the Police Department has been the recipient of two previous OTS grants in recent years - $35,000 in Fiscal Year 17/18 and $50,000 in Fiscal Year 14/15.
DISCUSSION
In January 2019, the Police Department submitted a Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) grant application to OTS.
Through a competitive process, the Police Department was approved for a $70,000 STEP grant in June 2019. Contingent on approval from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the grant period will be October 1, 2019 through September 30, 2020.
With OTS financial support, the Police Department will have the ability to offer overtime opportunities to officers to implement the following public awareness efforts and enforcement operations:
* Initial press release announcing grant partnership
* Participate in Office of Traffic Safety education campaigns (e.g. National Walk to School Day, National Teen...
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