City of Sacramento
City Council - 5PM Report
915 I Street Sacramento, CA 95814
www.cityofsacramento.org
File ID: 2025-00801 4/8/2025 Item 6.
Grant: Fiscal Year 2024 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program - Local Solicitation (Fiscal Year 2024 JAG)
File ID: 2025-00801
Location: Citywide
Recommendation: Adopt a Resolution authorizing the Interim City Manager, or designee to 1) accept the “Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program - Local Solicitation” grant award of $257,556; 2) establish an operating grant project (G11017824); and 3) adjust the operating grant revenue and expenditure budgets by $257,556.
Contact: Adam Green, Deputy Chief, Office of Investigations, (916) 808-0854, [email protected], Police Department
Presenter: None
Attachments:
1-Description/Analysis
2-Application Narrative
3-Certifications and Assurances
4-Resolution
Description/Analysis
Issue Detail: The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) has awarded the City $257,556 via the FY 2024 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program (FY 2024 JAG). To access award funds, the City Manager must sign the FY 2024 JAG “Certifications and Assurances by the Chief Executive of the Applicant Government” attesting that the application was: 1) reviewed by the applicant’s governing body, and b) made available for public comment at least 30 days prior to submission of the application to DOJ (see Title 34, Section 10153 of the United States Code (34 USC 10153). The application for the FY 2024 JAG and the Certifications and Assurances form are attached to this Staff Report as Attachments 2 and 3 respectively.
In this instance, the City was not able to provide the Application to Council nor to the public 30 days prior to the Application submission deadline of October 22, 2024. The DOJ has provided for such an
File ID: 2025-00801 4/8/2025 Item 6.
event. The JAG solicitation packet specifies that the DOJ “will not deny an application for a JAG award for failure to submit these ‘Certifications and Assurances by the Chief Executive of the Applicant Government’ by the application deadline, but a unit of local government will not be able to access award funds … until it submits these certifications and assurances properly executed by its respective chief executive (Opportunity Number: O-BJA-2024-172239, page 14). Therefore, the City Manager will be required to wait 30 days until after the scheduled Council Meeting to execute the required Certifications and Assurances.
JAG awards are determined by a formula, which considers rates of violent crime and population of eligible jurisdictions. The FY 2024 allocation for the City of Sacramento is $257,556. JAG funding “may be used to provide additional personnel, equipment, supplies, contractual support, training, technical assistance, and information systems for criminal justice.” The authorizing statue defines “criminal justice” at 34 USC 10521(a)(1), to include: “activities pertaining to crime prevention, control, or reduction, or the enforcement of the criminal law, including, but not limited to police efforts to prevent, control or reduce crime.”
Policy Considerations: The recommendations contained in this report are consistent with 1) Resolution 2024-0193, Section 11.3, which requires City Council authorization when such action is a condition of funding; and 2) 34 USC 10153(a), which requires that the JAG application has been: a) received and reviewed by an applicant’s governing body, and b) made available for public comment.
Economic Impacts: Not applicable.
Environmental Considerations: California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA): The proposed activity is not a project pursuant to the CEQA per CEQA Guidelines Section 15378(b)(5). The activity is an organization or administrative activity of governments that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment and is therefore not subject to the CEQA process, Sustainability: Not applicable.
Commission/Committee Action: Not applicable.
Rationale for Recommendation: As described in federal statute, JAG funds must be used to “provide additional personnel, equipment, supplies, contractual support, training, technical assistance and information systems for criminal justice in support” of a specific area of emphasis. For the FY 2024 allocation, SPD proposes to use the award to address the emphasis of “Crime and Violence Reduction Strategies” and supporting future SoundThinking (formerly known as “ShotSpotter”) costs.
Financial Considerations: In accordance with the terms of the grant program, federal funds must be used to supplement existing general fund resources. Grant funds may not replace or supplant non- federal resources that have been appropriated for the same purpose.
File ID: 2025-00801 4/8/2025 Item 6.
Local Business Enterprise (LBE): Not applicable.
City of Sacramento
Grant: BJA FY 2024 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program Proposal Narrative
Description of the Issue
The Sacramento Police Department (SPD) proposes to use the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 JAG allocation of $257,556 to enhance its violent crime reduction efforts. Like many U.S. cities, the City of Sacramento has experienced an historic spike in ho micides and gun violence. In a June 2021 press release, the SPD noted that between January and May 2021, there was a 16% increase in homicides compared to the same period in 20 20. At the same time, there was a 120% increase in firearm-related assaults. FY 2023 JAG funds will be instrumental in supporting these efforts to reduce gun violence.
To further SPD’s efforts to serve communities affected by gun violence, maintains three ShotSpotter systems specific geographical areas that have high occurrence of gun violence. Each of the systems is deployed in a federal Promise Z one and is part of the Promise Zone Initiative’s strategy to reduce violent crime.
Project Design & Implementation
The three ShotSpotter systems throughout Sacramento have prove n to be valuable assets when responding to and investigating gun violence. The following tables summarize the results of ShotSpotter deployments beginning with calendar year 2021.
Table: ShotSpotter Data, January 1, 2021 – June 30, 2024 2021 2022 2023
Jan –
June
2024
2024
Estimate
Estimated
4-Year
Average
%
Change
2021 v.
Average
Total Activations 928 672 742 338 676 755 -18.7%
Activations w/o a Citizen Call 785 582 640 298 596 651 -17.10 % Attachment 2 - Application Narrative
City of Sacramento
Grant: BJA FY 2024 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program Proposal Narrative
Activations w/ a Citizen Call 143 90 102 40 80 104 -27.45% Casings Collected 696 495 456 100 200 462 -33.66%
Resulting Reports 270 200 193 56 112 194 -28.24%
NIBIN Leads (est.) 116 75 33 10 20 61 -47.41%
Cases w/ NIBIN Leads (est.) 359 249 103 21 42 188 -47.56% Magazines & Gun Parts Seized 54 41 29 8 16 35 -35.19%
Firearms Seized 54 24 22 5 10 28 -49.07%
Arrests Made* 40 28 37 10 20 31 -21.88%
*Arrests data is only available through May 31, 2023
Federal financial assistance is needed to con tinue future use of the ShotSpotter systems because the annual cost of ShotSpotter deploy ments ($509,600) is greater than SPD’s annual operating budget allocation ($314,600). The a nnual unfunded portion of the ShotSpotter deployments is $195,000. Unfortunatel y, the City of Sacramento predicts budgetary shortfalls through Fiscal Year 2028/29. Theref ore, it is necessary to secure additional resources to support unfunded future-year obligations.
Capabilities and Competencies
One of the many benefits of using ShotSpotter technology in Sacramento is the partnership with the US Department of Justice’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) system. This technology is a vital crime reduction strategy because it enables investigators to match ballistics evidence with other cases locally and across the nation. When officers respond to shooting scenes, they collect evidence such as shell casings and in some instances, firearms. When ballistics evidence is collected, it is entered into the NIBIN system. A NIBIN report has many potential tactical and strategic uses for law enforcement. Law enforcement investigators can use it to link crimes, Attachment 2 - Application Narrative
City of Sacramento
Grant: BJA FY 2024 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program Proposal Narrative
which can help to identify suspects. They can also use it to understand patterns of gun crime, such as gun sharing and trafficking.
Plan for Collecting the Data Required for this Solicitation’s Performance Measures The SPD has reviewed the required Acco untability Measures as described at https://bja.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh186/files/media/document/jag-pmt-accountability-measures.pdf and has the infrastructure to repo rt on these metrics. Dependi ng on the metric in question, data will be collected from the responsible unit. For example, for training metrics, data will be collected from the SPD’s Research, Training, and Development division, which oversees both Academy and In-Service Training; and the Fiscal Operations Unit will report expenditure data retrieved from the City’s financial system as we ll as procurement information. Metrics concerning the NIBRS requirement will be provided by the Public Sa fety Information Technology division. Narrative information about ShotSpotter activity will be collected fro m the ShotSpotter officers, accompanied by other quantitative data provided by professional staff in the SPD’s Crime Analysis Unit. The metrics concerning consultants/contract ors and training are not applicable to this proposal.
Attachment 2 - Application Narrative
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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
OFFICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS
Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program FY 2024 Local Solicitation Certifications and Assurances by the Chief Executive of the Applicant Government On behalf of the applicant unit of local government named below, in support of that locality’s application for an award under the FY 2024 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (“JAG”) Program, and further to 34 U.S.C. § 10153(a), I certify to the Office of Justice Programs (“OJP”), U.S. Department of Justice (“USDOJ”), that all of the following are true and correct:
1. I am the chief executive of the applicant unit of local government named below, and I have the authority to make the following representations on my own behalf as chief executive and on behalf of the applicant unit of local government. I understand that these representations will be relied upon as material in any OJP decision to make an award, under the application described above, to the applicant unit of local gov ernment.
2. I certify that no federal funds made available by the award (if any) that OJP makes based on the application described above will be used to supplant local funds but will be used to increase the amounts of such funds that would, in the absence of federal funds, be made available for law enforcement activities.
3. I assure that the application described above (and any amendment to that application) was submitted for review to the governing body of the unit of local government (e.g., city council or county commission), or to an organization designated by that governing body, not less than 30 days before the date of this certification.
4. I assure that, before the date of this certification— (a) the application described above (and any amendment to that application) was made public; and (b) an opportunity to comment on that application (or amendment) was provided to citizens and to neighborhood or community-based organizations, to the extent applicable law or established procedure made such an opportunity available.
5. I assure that, for each fiscal year of the award (if any) that OJP makes based on the application described above, the applicant unit of local government will maintain and report such data, records, and information (programmatic and financial), as OJP may reasonably require.
6. I have carefully reviewed 34 U.S.C. § 10153(a)(5), and, with respect to the programs to be funded by the award (if any), I hereby make the certification required by section 10153(a)(5), as to each of the items specified therein.
7. If the applicant named below is not the unit of local government itself, I certify that it is an instrumentality of the unit of local government and is approved to serve as the applicant and recipient of FY 2024 JAG funding on behalf of the unit of local government.
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Signature of Chief Executive of the Applicant Unit of Date of Certification Local Government
_
Printed Name of Chief Executive Title of Chief Executive _
Name of Applicant Unit of Local Government
Rev. April 19, 2024
Resolution No.
[DATE]
Adopted by the Sacramento City Council
Grant: Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program – Local Solicitation (FY 2024 JAG)
BACKGROUND
A. Title 34, Section 10153 of the United States Code (34 USC 10153) requires that an application for Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) funds include Certifications and Assurances that the application was reviewed by the applicant’s governing boy and made available for public comment 30 days prior to the submission of the application.
B. As provided for in the solicitation, the United States Department of Justice (US DOJ) will not deny an application for failure to timely submit the required Certifications and Assurances. Rather it will place a conditional hold on the award funds until the City Manager can accurately and properly make the required Certifications and Assurances.
C. As authorized by federal statute, JAG funds may be used to “hire additional personnel, equipment, supplies, contractual support, training, technical assistance, and information systems for criminal justice” in support of a specified area of emphasis.
D. The application specifies that JAG funds will be used to support the emphasis area of “Violent Crime Reduction” to assist local jurisdictions’ “strategies to reduce violent crime and enhance their capacity to better address crime.”
BASED ON THE FACTS SET FORTH IN THE BACKGROUND, THE CITY COUNCIL RESOLVES AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1.
The City Manager or the City Manager’s designee is authorized to submit the application for the “Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program – Local Solicitation.”
SECTION 2.
If awarded, the City Manager or the City Manager’s designee is authorized to accept the award amount of $257,556.
SECTION 3.
If awarded, the City Manager or the City Manager’s designee is authorized to establish an operating grant project (G11017824).
SECTION 4.
If awarded, the City Manager or the City Manager’s designee is authorized to adjust the operating grant revenue and expenditure budgets for the award amount of $257,556.