Item #01
Date: August 20, 2026
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Vance Nabeta, Police Chief
Subject: Authorize the City Manager to Submit an Application for Funding the Marysville Violent Crime Response Initiative
Recommendation:
Adopt a Resolution authorizing the City Manager or his designee to submit an application to the Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, for $200,000 in funding under the FY 2026 Community Policing Development: Microgrants Program to fund the “Marysville Violent Crime Response Initiative”.
Rationale for Recommendation:
The proposed 24-month pilot program would enhance the Police Department’s ability to respond to and investigate violent crime through vehicle-location technology, community video-evidence sharing, protective and tactical equipment, an unmanned aerial system, specialized training, and independent performance evaluation. The grant would provide up to $200,000, would require no local match, and would not create any new City positions.
Background:
Marysville continues to experience violent crime levels that are disproportionately high for a rural community of approximately 13,000 residents. Crime analysis included in the draft proposal indicates the city experiences violent crime rates significantly above state and national averages, including elevated rates of aggravated assault, firearm-related violence, armed robbery, and homicide. Residents face approximately a one-in-135 chance of becoming the victim of a violent crime. The Department continues to encounter repeat violent offenders, gangs or group-related criminal activity, narcotics-related violence, and offenders operating across jurisdictional boundaries within Yuba and Sutter counties.
This federal grant program is administered through the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services and is intended to support law enforcement agencies by advancing the practice of community policing to increase capacity to implement innovative or evidence-based projects that improve officer and public safety. The grant program is competitive and provides awards of up to $200,000 over a 24-month performance period. There is no local match requirement.
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Discussion & Analysis:
Staff requests that the City Council formally authorize the City Manager to submit an application to fund the Marysville Violent Crime Response Initiative. The proposed application would request approximately $200,000 to support modernization of the Department’s violent crime response capabilities.
More specifically, the proposed grant funding would be used for the following:
• $36,000 for GPS/automatic vehicle location equipment for approximately 30 patrol vehicles, integrated with dispatch, allowing dispatchers to identify and send the closest available unit and providing reliable response-time and deployment data.
• $38,000 for the Marysville Connect and Protect Program, including 25 video-sharing devices at participating community locations, two years of secure evidence-sharing and mapping software, installation, and integration with dispatch and records systems. The system would identify available camera coverage and allow incident-specific video requests; it would not provide continuous police monitoring of privately owned cameras.
• $50,000 for protective and tactical equipment to outfit at least eight existing officers assigned to the Marysville Violent Crime Response Unit for armed-subject incidents, barricaded subjects, and highrisk warrant service. • $28,000 for a tactical unmanned aerial system, including the aircraft, controller, batteries, and transport equipment, to provide situational awareness during barricades, armed-suspect searches, pursuits, and other high-risk incidents.
• $20,000 for specialized training and certification, including Violent Crime Response Unit training, dispatcher and supervisor training, partner onboarding, and FAA certification for three drone operators.
• $14,000 for an independent academic evaluation that would establish baseline performance data and measure improvements in response times, evidence collection, case clearance, and high-risk incident response.
• $8,175 for required grant-related travel, preparation of the federally required project report and practitioner toolkit, mounting hardware, storage, and minor equipment supplies. • $5,825 in indirect cost recovery to reimburse the city for grant administration and related overhead.
The overall objective of the initiative is to reduce violent crime in Marysville. The Department will continue to track violent crime rates throughout the grant period and compare them with pre-program baseline data to evaluate the program’s overall effectiveness. Because crime rates may also be affected by factors outside the program, these trends will be evaluated together with response times, evidence-collection times, case clearance rates, and outcomes from high-risk incidents.
The Department would establish a 12-month pre-grant baseline and measure the following targeted results during the 24-month grant period:
• Reduce the average dispatch-to-arrival time for Priority 1 violent-crime calls by 15% by Month 18. • Reduce the median time required to obtain video evidence from participating community partners from an estimated five to seven days to 24 hours or less by Month 12. • Increase the aggravated-assault case-clearance rate compared with the 12-month pre-grant baseline.
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• Ensure that all high-risk incidents meeting established activation criteria are handled by trained and properly equipped Violent Crime Response Unit personnel by Month 12. • Use the unmanned aerial system to provide officers with advanced situational awareness in at least 80% of eligible barricaded-subject and armed-suspect incidents by Month 12. • Complete an after-action review of every Violent Crime Response Unit deployment to evaluate the response, tactics, outcome, and any use of force.
The proposed grant would fund the initial equipment, software, training, implementation, and evaluation costs for a 24-month pilot program. If the grant is awarded, some components would have continuing costs after federal funding ends, including software licensing for the community evidence-sharing platform, GPS/vehicle-location service and data plans, drone maintenance, refresher training, and eventual equipment replacement.
The community evidence-sharing platform is currently estimated to cost approximately $6,000 annually after the grant period. The continuing costs for GPS/vehicle-location services, drone operation, equipment maintenance and replacement, and any associated staff overtime or backfill have not yet been determined.
Staff would obtain and present those costs before requesting continuation of the program.
Participation in the grant would not oblige the city to continue any component after the grant expires.
During the final six months of the pilot, staff would return to the City Council with the program’s measured results, actual operating experience, vendor pricing, and a complete sustainability budget. Council would then determine whether to fund the entire program, continue only those components demonstrated to be effective, or allow some or all components to end when grant funding expires.
Environmental Review:
The proposed action is not a “project” within the meaning of the California Environmental Quality Act pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15378 because it authorizes only the submission of a grant application and does not authorize the implementation of the proposed program, the expenditure of grant funds, or any activity that may cause a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment.
If funding is awarded, staff will return to the City Council for acceptance and appropriation of the grant, and any activities requiring CEQA review will be evaluated before approval or implementation.
Legal Review:
The City Attorney will review the resolution and related documents as to form before execution.
Fiscal Impact:
There is no material General Fund impact associated with submitting the grant application. If awarded, the grant would fund the proposed 24-month pilot program and would require no local match. No additional General Fund appropriation is anticipated during the grant period.
Continuation of any program component after the 24-month pilot would be subject to future City Council approval and could result in an ongoing General Fund impact. Before the grant period ends, staff will evaluate the pilot’s performance, determine the costs of continuing each component, and return to the City Council with the results and funding options. The Council would then decide whether to continue the entire program, continue selected components, or discontinue the program when grant funding expires.
Alignment with City Council Goal(s):
This agenda item advances City Council Goal #4, Enhance Public Safety, by providing the Police Department with equipment, technology, and training intended to improve its response to and investigation of violent crime.
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The project also advances Goal #6, Strengthen Institutional Capacity, by establishing specialized capabilities, standardized operating policies, measurable performance data, and trained internal personnel without creating new positions or requiring a local funding match.
Attachments:
1) Grant Abstract
2) Grant Application Preliminary Budget