8F
Date: August 25, 2026
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Robert Dunn, Police Chief
By: Kent Sentinella, Admin Analyst | [email protected] Subject: Police – Approve Fiscal Year 2024-25 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program Application. Expenditure: None.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation of the Chief of Police that City Council approve the Fiscal Year 2024-25 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program application.
FUNDING
None required.
DISCUSSION
The City of Torrance is eligible for federal grant funding in the amount of $24,732 through the Fiscal Year 2024-25 (FY 2025) Edward Byrne Memorial JAG Program. It is a grant requirement that the application be made available for both a jurisdiction’s governing body review, as well as public comment. The Edward Byrne Memorial JAG Program provides funds to states, tribes, and local governments to support a broad range of activities to prevent and control crime based on their own local needs and conditions. JAG funding can be used for technical assistance, training, personnel, equipment, supplies, contractual support, and information systems for criminal justice that will improve or enhance:
• Law enforcement programs
• Prosecution and court programs
• Prevention and education programs
• Corrections and community corrections programs
• Drug treatment and enforcement programs
• Planning, evaluation, and technology improvement programs • Crime victim and witness programs (other than compensation) • Mental health programs and related law enforcement and corrections programs The Police Department proposes that JAG funds be allocated to extend Police Cadet Program funding, as well as to fund DNA analysis of cold case evidence. Established in 2002, the Cadet Program provides valuable experience to college students interested in a career in law enforcement. Cadets work a variety of assignments throughout the various Police Department Divisions that are inclusive of, but not limited to, community outreach, report writing, preliminary investigations, and customer service. Since 2007, more than fifteen former Cadets have been 1 City Council
August 25, 2026
hired as Police Officers with Torrance Police. The Cadet Program currently consists of eight Cadets. The amount of $18,752 in 2025 JAG funds has been requested to supplement other available funds to retain the Cadet Program’s eight positions, widen the pool of potential law enforcement talent for the Department, and enhance the Department’s capacity for service delivery within several Department programs.
The Department is also working a decades-old cold case homicide investigation in which multiple items of biological evidence were recovered from the crime scene. Testing of available evidence may yield a DNA profile to help with suspect identification given current analysis technologies.
The amount of $5,980 in 2025 JAG funding is therefore being proposed to test such evidence for possible DNA.
The City’s FY 2025 JAG Program proposal was approved for funding at the end of July 2026.
Staff will coordinate award allocation and appropriation in accordance with City protocols at a future date.
ATTACHMENT
1. 2025 Edward Byrne Memorial JAG Program Application
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ATTACHMENT 1
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