City Council
Staff Report
From: City Manager
Report Type: CONSENT CALENDAR
Lead Department: Police
Meeting Date: December 4, 2023
Report #:2309-2066
TITLE
Approve and Authorize the City Manager to Execute a Grant Agreement With the State of California Board of State and Community Corrections to Develop and Implement a Three-Year Program to Combat Organized Retail Theft with $5.2 million in State Funds, Requiring $0 in City Matching Funds; and Approve a FY 2024 Budget Amendment (Requires 2/3 approval) in the Supplemental Law Enforcement Services Fund; CEQA status – not a project.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1) Approve and authorize the City Manager, or their designee, to execute a Funding Agreement (attached) with the State of California Board of State and Community Corrections for the development and implementation of the Organized Retail Theft action plan. The Agreement will provide up to $5.2 million in funding over three years, and the City will not be required to provide matching funds; and
2) Amend the Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Appropriation for the Special Law Enforcement Services Fund (requires a 2/3 approval) by:
a) Increasing the estimate for Revenue from Other Agencies, grants by $5,176,400; and b) Increasing Police Department expense appropriation for Salary & Benefits $4,749,400, c) Increasing Police Department expense appropriation for Facilities & Equipment $333,300,
d) Increasing Police Department expense appropriation Supplies and General Expenses $94,100.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Approval of this grant funding from the State will provide the Police Department with additional resources for up to 38 months (approximately 3 years) to combat Organized Retail Theft (ORT) and the use of stolen vehicles or vehicles with stolen license plates in the commission of ORT
crimes. Like most cities in the Bay Area, Palo Alto has been impacted by the rise in ORT over the past few years. The State of California has recognized the issue and solicited and awarded grants to local communities throughout the state to combat the problem. The Palo Alto Police Department applied for a grant to combat ORT and related crimes from the Board of State and Community Corrections. In September 2023, the Police Department learned that it had received the grant pending City Council authorization. The grant will fund the development and implementation of a program to combat ORT. Funding is available for three years for reimbursements up to $5.2 million, paid monthly or quarterly as expenses are incurred and invoiced. No matching contribution by the City is required.
Palo Alto’s program, while still in the development phase, anticipates a two-part approach: 1) staff assigned on overtime to patrol, investigate, and attend court for ORT crimes at shopping districts where the value of thefts and/or the impact on public safety is greatest; and 2) equip patrol vehicles with a device capable of affixing a global positioning system (GPS) tracker to the vehicles of fleeing suspects. This action is only the acceptance of the grant funds and the appropriation of the expense budget. Staff still needs to develop draft policies for the purchase of and use of the trackers in accordance with the City’s Surveillance and Privacy Protection ordinance.
BACKGROUND
While Palo Alto is a very safe city, crime still occurs here. Most of the crime that occurs is property crime, not violent crime. Of all the types of property crimes, ORT has become more common in recent years, and currently is occurring multiple times each week in Palo Alto. These crimes are often carried out by suspects driving stolen vehicles or vehicles with stolen license plates. The following data represents losses originating from the Stanford Shopping Center (SSC) and the downtown business area. The source of this information is based on losses reported by merchants to the Police Department.
• Stolen property loss 2018 - $886,419
• Stolen property loss 2019 - $1,305,483
• Stolen property loss 2020 - $851,246
• Stolen property loss 2021 - $1,143,656
• Stolen property loss 2022 - $1,532,331
The California Department of Justice defines ORT as organized criminal rings that steal property with the intent to sell, distribute, or return stolen merchandise for value. ORT takes many forms, from coordinated thefts of specific goods to orchestrated, brazen burglaries of local retailers. In whatever form it takes, these organized crimes are felonies, not petty theft or shoplifting. ORT incidents are often part of sophisticated criminal networks that plan their attacks weeks or months before they are carried out. Further, agencies throughout the region have reported an increase in crimes conducted in stolen vehicles or vehicles with stolen license plates.
The California Budget Act of 2022 (Senate Bill 154) established the Organized Retail Theft Prevention Grant Program. Per the state Budget Act, funding for the Organized Retail Theft Grant Program is for competitive grants for city police departments, county sheriffs’ departments, and probation departments. Grant funds shall be used to support local law enforcement agencies in preventing and responding to organized retail theft, motor vehicle or motor vehicle accessory theft, or cargo theft. Permissible uses of grant funds include, but are not limited to, purchase of technology or other equipment that would help deter, prevent, or respond to these crimes. These funds shall be used to supplement and not supplant existing funds for these activities.
All entities receiving grant funding shall be required to comply with all applicable privacy laws and regulations. Grants shall be made on a competitive basis to localities that can demonstrate, using data, that organized retail theft, motor vehicle or motor vehicle accessory theft, or cargo theft pose a significant problem in their jurisdictions. The California Board of State and Community Corrections oversees the administration of the Organized Retail Theft Prevention Grant Program. Established in 2012, the BSCC is an independent statutory agency that provides leadership to the adult and juvenile criminal justice systems, expertise on Public Safety Realignment issues, a data and information clearinghouse, and technical assistance on a wide range of community corrections issues. In addition, the BSCC administers significant public safety-related grant funding, both at the federal and state level, for the State of California.
Notice of Funding was issued on April 14, 2023, applications were due July 7, 2023, and the final Board decision was September 14, 2023. The grant cycle for these projects is October 1, 2023, through June 1, 2027.
To view the applications (including Palo Alto’s) and State grant process, see the BSCC website [https://www.bscc.ca.gov/organized-retail-theft-grant-program/].
ANALYSIS
In alignment with the grant application, staff recommend the “Palo Alto Organized Retail Theft and Motor Vehicle Recovery Project”; an effort that will utilize data-driven and field-tested strategies to deter organized retail theft and vehicle theft and arrest those responsible. The project focuses on two primary components: 1) targeted ORT enforcement operations and 2) technology modernization.
The grant award is intended for staffing cost reimbursement to investigate and apprehend suspects of ORT. The grant award also is intended to providing funding to install a new technology on police patrol vehicles that will allow officers to remotely affix a GPS transmitter to fleeing vehicles. Suspects often choose to use stolen vehicles, or vehicles with stolen license plates, in the commission of their crimes because it frustrates the ability of police to quickly make arrests.
These suspects will flee attempted vehicle stops by police, knowing that often police will not endanger the public by pursuing vehicles wanted only for property-related crimes. This new technology will provide additional investigative leads and allow officers to locate and apprehend suspects without the necessity for a potentially dangerous vehicle pursuit more safely. The technology will be installed on 25 marked Palo Alto Police Department patrol vehicles. Prior to the acquisition and implementation of such technology, staff would develop draft policies for the purchase of and use of the trackers in accordance with the City’s Surveillance and Privacy Protection ordinance.
The goals of the project will be to reduce losses to Palo Alto businesses, and to recover 10% more stolen vehicles than in prior years.
FISCAL/RESOURCE IMPACT
The application was prepared using existing City staffing resources as well as the resources of a grant processing service provider who was already engaged under contract for no additional charge. No additional staff or operating budget resources are necessary to accept the grant except for purchasing staff time to make the purchase of equipment.
Grant budget from the application
Staff anticipates a salary cost of $4.73 million (approximately $1.58 million annually) with most of the expense allocated to deploying three police officers, all on overtime, each for ten-hour shifts, daily for 38 months. Staff anticipates $0.33 million for the installation of GPS tracking technology on 25 vehicles and a computer workstation set-up in a temporary field office at Stanford Shopping Center. $81,000 will be used for audit and evaluation according to the grant application and $13,200 in other miscellaneous costs.
The grant funding should conclude in approximately three years, June 1, 2027. Staff has considered if overtime or full-time staffing would be more appropriate. After consideration of the skills necessary for this work, current staffing levels with vacancies, and training period, staff believes that no new positions are necessary currently. However, should the City Council decide to continue the program after grant funding has expired, funding and resource needs would be
addressed as part of the annual budget process. Staff anticipates modest maintenance costs related to the GPS technology at the end of the grant term and will bring forward for requests for funding as part of the annual budget process if it cannot otherwise be absorbed in the Department‘s budget.
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
Staff conducted outreach with the business community including the Chamber of Commerce and Simon Property, operator of Stanford Shopping Center, who all provided letters of support as did the Santa Clara County District Attorney's office.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The California Public Resources Code § 21065 includes a definition of a “project” as subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) if it is an activity directly undertaken by a public agency which may cause either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment. This project is exempt from the provisions of the CEQA, pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of the CEQA Guidelines, because it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity will have a significant effect on the environment.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A: STD 214 Standard Agreement
APPROVED BY:
Andrew Binder, Police Chief