I am sorry but I did have a little trouble with the formatting but I think I got through it.
YOU:
I will restrict my further comments to the grants listed in your post, and attempt to show that doing a quick search and using the results to support your position does not properly inform the public. It only creates a false impression that grants are numerous, and an easy path to funding local law enforcement services.
ME:
First of all Thank you for your comments. You seem quite well informed on the subject. While we disagree on some things I admire your input. I learn from you and your comments more than you know.
ME:
No one said it was easy, Grant writing is an art, very time consuming, and difficult to establish exactly what grantors will allow. It does NOT attempt to inform the public about all the grants available. In the initial post it said I would do a “10 Second search” on what grants could be found in “10 Seconds” We are going to have to disagree about grants being numerous. I have spent exactly 10 seconds on locating grants. There is no Easy Path in funding law enforcement. That is something “YOU SAID” Not me. In my files I have over 60 grants that I had been working on when I retired. All 60 are available to Reynolds County, and they are already filled out. Many can be cut and pasted or “Replace” used to complete the grants. With this election coming up, I will not give away the farm and post these grants. So you are not mis-informed, I have spent hours, and hours, and then more hours on these grants. It was not easy, It was very Hmmmm, time consuming. I’m not going to say hard, it just took up a lot of my time. In addition, the grants do not “fund law enforcement” as you put it. The county, as you know, funds law enforcement. Grants are often intended to augment existing funds so programs can be started and then most taper off and place the responsibility back on the general fund. Some grants do cover programs in their entirety but not as many as one would think. In your reading of this thread you have come to the idea and decision that I said law enforcement could be grant funded. You have made a pretty big jump from “law enforcement grants should be enhanced as to free up general funds”, to one of “funding local law enforcement services.” From what I see you have taken a single page out of context, and have put words into the post such as “funding local law enforcement services” and “easy path to funding local law enforcement services”. These are terms YOU ADDED, not what I said. And you are right “it does not properly inform the public.”
Please keep things in context. Please do not add statements and then call them mine.
YOU:
Police and Law Enforcement grants section and checked with the program's granting authority website. Please excuse any awkward formatting caused by my 'cutting and pasting'.
The purpose of the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) program is to award one-year grants directly to fire departments and nonaffiliated emergency medical services.
ME:
Does this county have a county fire department? If not, why not? Are deputies a part of the city FD’s. Officers are normally the first arriving units. If officers were trained and equipped to do some RIT work, natural cross vent, or S&R work prior to fire departments arriving on scene, do you think that it would qualify for some of these grant funds? Even pass through from the fire department? When the bells ring we all go. Maybe we need to encourage a little more cohesive development within emergency services to improve grant funding. Maybe a department of Public Safety? This grant would probably require some creative writing. Possibly some policy changes? That would be exactly what the rest of the country is doing as we speak.
YOU:
Fire and EMS organizations in order to enhance their abilities with respect to fire and fire-related hazards. Our primary goal is to provide assistance to meet fire departments’ and nonaffiliated EMS organizations firefighting and emergency response needs. This program seeks to support organizations that lack the tools and resources necessary to more effectively protect the health and safety of the public and their emergency response personnel with respect to fire and all other hazards.
A "fire department" is defined as an agency or organization that has a formally recognized arrangement with a State, territory, local, or tribal authority (city, county, parish, fire district, township, town, or other governing body) to provide fire suppression to a population within a fixed geographical area on a first-due basis.
A "nonaffiliated EMS organization" is defined as a public or private nonprofit emergency medical services organization that provides direct emergency medical services, including medical transport, to a specific geographic area on a first-due basis but is not affiliated with a hospital and does not serve a geographic area where emergency medical services are adequately provided by a fire department.
Comments:
Two examples to show that this grant is known and utilized are given above.
ME:
I did see the awards you listed. I think these are great.
YOU:
Can you describe how this grant could be used by the Reynolds County Sheriff's Department?
ME:
Sure, In the event of a Fire, Explosion, Shooting, Hate Crime, Terrorist incident, Hazardous Materials Incident, or a confined space rescue, (just examples) Officers and deputies will respond to or assist in these areas. Once again, when the bells ring we all go. We are a part of a team that deals with the emergency. Segregating the agencies is a bad idea from the start and almost always eliminates grant funding from agency to agency. However being part of the big picture ENHANCES the process, gets more money that would otherwise be unavailable. Almost everywhere in the west the “BIG THREE” have banned together in order to get money.
Police, Fire, Medical, and now days agencies that provide instructional methodology.
An example of IM would be you teaching what you know. That’s why I said we can not let you leave in the very first post.
The big three are now known, even in small towns now days as, the “XYZ Department of Homeland Security” Notice “public safety” used to be called the XYZ Sheriffs Office, or State Highway Patrol, Now days it is called “XYZ department of homeland security”. All this does is make funds available to the big three in a given area. Nothing more. The department dose not make big changes, the players are the same, maybe a little more training, and minor policy changes. There is no reason why Reynolds County should not have some of the money being given away to others.
YOU:
Law Enforcement Terrorism Prevention Program
LETPP focuses upon the prevention of terrorist attacks and provides law enforcement and public safety communities with funds to support intelligence gathering and information sharing through enhancing/establishing fusion centers; interoperable communications; and collaboration with non-law enforcement partners, other government agencies and the private sector.
The funding priorities for the FY 2007 HSGP reflect the Department’s overall investment strategy, in which two priorities have been paramount: risk-based funding and regional security cooperation.
The Governor of each State has designated a State Administrative Agency (SAA) to apply for and administer the funds under HSGP. The SAA is the only agency eligible to apply for HSGP funds and is responsible for obligating HSGP funds to local units of government and other designated recipients.
This grant may have provided funds to the local area recently. There is no award list given. The Sheriff's Department has had a recent communications upgrade. Verification would have to be obtained from the Sheriff's Department.
ME:
You are right, and the communications area looks pretty darn good, but from what you are telling me all patrol cars are set up with Computers, 800mz radios, VHF radios, cell phones that reach all areas of the service areas, and level 1 and 2 communications along with interactive dash cams, Along with encrypted scrambling capabilities. Please think a little more general in terms of communications. You are eligible, why not? (And I think the term you are looking for with the state receiving money is called “Pass through money”) and that’s OK. Did Reynolds County Apply and receive funds from this grant? If not, Why not?
YOU:
The only program open for application is the Citizen Corps. Application end date is April 28. Grant may have future potential.
Yes I seen that, when I posted these grants many were up against a very short timeline. This grant will come up again. It would be smart to have a grant application completed and ready to go for the next go-around.
This money could be used for CERT teams, High school programs, Citizen Corps, and neighborhood watch, McGruff Programs, etc etc: Should have been done in time.
YOU:
Past use of funds has been focused on interpretability (everyone can communicate with everyone else - compatible radios, etc.) and fingerprint scanners.
ME:
GREAT, I did see your scanners, but much more needs to be done. Interpretability was a huge issue in the west. They installed a “Black Box” (Sorry but that’s all It was known by) it integrated several received frequencies and put us all on the same frequency in an emergency. We got set up for the Olympics and it just stayed that way afterward. Is Reynolds County set up with this? We should be. If elected I will get the specs on the unit and then look at it.
YOU:
Metropolitan Medical Response System (MMRS)
ME:
This money could be used to enhance 2 areas of the county. I will be happy to discuss this on private email but I don’t think it is prudent to discuss vulnerability of an area in Reynolds County in a public forum.
YOU:
Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program
The Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program seeks to increase public safety through innovative cross-system collaboration for individuals with mental illness who come into contact with the criminal or juvenile justice systems. The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) is seeking joint applications from eligible applicants seeking to plan, implement, or expand an adult or juvenile collaboration program. This program is funded through the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act of 2004
A grant made under this program may not cover more than 80 percent of the total costs of the project being funded during the first two years of the grant. For Category II (Planning and Implementation), the grant can cover no more than 60 percent of the total costs of the project during the third year. The applicant must identify the source of the non-federal portion of the budget and how match funds will be used. Applicants may satisfy this match requirement with either cash or in-kind services.
Comments:
Matching funds required up to 40%.
I suggest reading the document at the link for this grant carefully.
ME:
I did. And I wonder how much time and energy the sheriffs office calls goes into mental health issues? In-Kind Services? It would seem to me if the time and energy was accounted for it would already cover the match? I could be wrong but I think, (Without seeing dispatch records and statistics) the sheriffs office deals with this quite a bit. I do not think it would be hard to come up with IN-KIND AMOUNTS.
YOU:
FCC Rural Health Care Pilot Program
The Commission has exercised its authority under section 254(h)(2)(A) to establish discounts and funding mechanisms for advanced services provided by both telecommunications carriers and non-telecommunications carriers. The pilot program will fund a significant portion of the costs of deploying a dedicated broadband network that connects multiple public and non-profit health care providers, within a state or region, as well as providing the "advanced telecommunications and information services" that ride over that network. Consistent with the mandate provided in section 254(h)(2)(A) and general principles of universal service, all eligible public and non-profit health care providers may apply to participate in the pilot program, but applicants must include in their proposed networks public and non-profit health care providers that serve rural areas.
Comments:
I do not see how this relates to funding local law enforcement.
ME:
It may not, however: If we were to bring broadband to the area, o-say for medical communications in the EMS system, Fire first response system for first aid teams, first responder at the sheriffs office level as first aid responders, then it would eliminate some of the costs associated with first responder communications. Let’s say (Example) 800Mz radio trunk system that would allow not only first response personnel the use of the system. That would give broadband availability from your patrol car, Fire truck, or Ambulance. You may or may not be paying for that service. (I am not totally sure the sheriffs office even has broadband but it sure would be nice for another unit in first response arena to pay for it, and you-know, as long as it is there????? It would eliminate the Sheriffs Office from paying for it.
YOU:
Intelligent Transportation Systems [DOT]
Grant Details:Amount: Varies
Application Due Date: April 2008
Description:
The overall objective of the ITS-OTMC Program is to facilitate, in connection with the Congestion Initiative, the operational testing of innovative and aggressive congestion reduction strategies incorporating ITS systems that can demonstrate measurable reductions in congestion levels in the testing areas. In its discretion, the Department may provide up to $100 million over three years through the ITS-OTMC Program which the Department established as part of the ITS Program. In order to support the objectives of the Congestion Initiative,
the Department is seeking applications for the operational testing and evaluation of innovative uses of technology to address congestion on a specific facility or facilities, such as a corridor, an urban area or region. Accordingly, qualifying projects must be expected to directly result in significant, broad, and near-term congestion relief. Projects that the Department will consider may include demand management pricing strategies, advanced traffic signal control, innovative incident detection and management strategies, integrated corridor management, parking management tied to transit service, high occupancy/toll (HOT) lanes, managed lanes, ramp control, lane-keeping devices or longitudinal control designed to enhance spatial efficiency on existing highways, precision docking, signal priority systems for buses, no-contact fare collection, real-time travel information (bus arrival times, schedules, emergency information to first-responders, etc.), advanced traveler information systems, parking alerts, or automatic vehicle locator systems. The Department encourages the submission of project proposals that contain technologies which support pricing strategies. Projects that use technology to support and combine congestion mitigation strategies (such as congestion pricing, expansion of transit capacity, and telecommuting) are encouraged. Project applications should demonstrate that proposed strategies will be implemented in a relatively short time frame (e.g., within 12 to 18 months from the date of procurement). The Department will provide up to the statutorily allowable 80 percent share of the estimated costs of an approved project. Funds available for the ITS-OTMC Program are intended to support the implementation costs of the proposed operational testing. Costs of planning, testing, managing, operating, demonstrating, monitoring, evaluating, and reporting are eligible for reimbursement. The Department will evaluate the admittance of proposed costs in accordance with OMB Circular A-87 Cost Principles for State and Local Governments.
YOU:
Comments:
Matching funds again.
Traffic congestion in Reynolds County ?
We may want to wait on this one.
ME:
Please read what we could use rather than discarding the whole topic. Why not apply under the following topics? The very worst that could happen is they say no.
Innovative incident detection. Lane-keeping devices. Emergency information to first-responders. Automatic vehicle locator systems and possibly advanced traveler information systems.
YOU:
eCrash Solutions Software Grant
TRACView - Online Traffic Accident Reports
TRACView is pleased to announce 2007 grant funding for TRACView Traffic Accident Solutions. Total funding is available to qualifying public safety agencies nationwide. Grant includes 100% funding for hardware, software, training and installation of software and services. TRACView is being used by over 125 police departments across the United States. Our software reduces your staff workload and makes managing accident reports a simple task. This grant is 100% fully funded by TRACView and requires no match by your agency. Everything you need is provided free of charge. Apply today!
Comments:
Anyone see an advertisement here? Click on the link and see if you can find the grant information.
The idea here seems to be that the company provides a free service to the law enforcement agency. The agency then duplicates their efforts by scanning information into the company database. I am sure this is an over-simplification.
Most Missouri Sheriff's Departments do not handle traffic accidents. The Missouri State Highway Patrol does. It is a job function of the MSHP. Most cities handle traffic accidents within their jurisdiction using the state forms and/or software.
Citations written in this county are manageable without using an ECitation system.
ME:
You are right, Like I said in the original post this was a 10 second finger popping search on grants. I have not however listed any grants or foundation work on places like Uncle Sams, The federal register, Perkins, Susan Harwood, etc etc. This was listed on the P1 list. I let P1 know about it.
I stand corrected. Please remember with this election I am fielding 20+ emails just like this one per day. (I am not trying to make excuses) I get bad information just like anyone else every now and then.
YOU:
Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools
This grant program is designed to provide funds to LEAs to strengthen and improve their school emergency management plans, at the district and school-building level. Grantees are required to address all four phases of
emergency management: prevention and mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. In addition, LEAs are required to form partnerships and collaborate with community organizations, local law enforcement agencies, heads of local governments, and offices of public safety, health, and mental health as they review and revise school crisis plans.
Plans must be coordinated with state or local homeland security plans and support implementation of the National Incident Management System (NIMS).
Grant funds may be used for the following activities: training school safety teams and students; conducting
building and facilities audits; communicating emergency response policies to parents and guardians; implementing
an Incident Command System (ICS); purchasing school safety equipment (to a limited extent); conducting drills
and tabletop simulation exercises; and preparing and distributing copies of crisis plans.
Local Education Agencies (LEAs)
YOU:
Comments:
Local law enforcement agencies may not apply. Collaboration could occur.
Funding currently closed.
“Might be worth mentioning to county school districts”.
ME:
Where it says:’ This grant program is designed to provide funds to LEAs to strengthen and improve their school emergency management plans, and then it goes on. Let me ask? How much money does the sheriffs office spend on school programs? Could the sheriffs office enhance the school programs by assisting schools with this money in school programs? Thus reduce or eliminate the funds being spent in the schools? Maybe bring better, stronger, and more academia to the school programs as it relates to law enforcement? Training students to be deputies? Jailers, Administrative Assistants? Creation of more citizen involved programs that accomplishes safety and law enforcement programs?
Training school safety teams and students,
Conducting building and facilities audits for security,
Communicating emergency response policies to parents and guardians, implementing an Incident Command System (ICS),
Purchasing school safety equipment (to a limited extent,
Conducting drills and tabletop simulation exercises,
Preparing and distributing copies of crisis plans.
Educating and mentoring teachers and officers in emergency situations.
Just because the grant goes to the school does not mean the school is the only agency that benefits from it.
With all due respect, please think a little broader with respect to grants.
YOU:
Twenty First Century Community Learning Centers
The program helps students meet state and local student standards in core academic subjects, such as reading and math; offers students a broad array of enrichment activities that can complement their regular academic programs; and offers literacy and other educational services to the families of participating children.
Who May Apply: (by category) State Education Agencies (SEAs)
Who May Apply: (specifically) Awards are made to SEAs. Local education agencies (LEAs) and nonprofit organization may apply to states for subgrants.
This program supports the creation of community learning centers that provide academic enrichment opportunities during non-school hours for children, particularly students who attend high-poverty and low-performing schools.
YOU:
Comments:
Arcadia Valley received funding at least twice since 2003.
Grant might be worth mentioning to county school districts.
ME:
A: Yes you are right. If we create programs for students during non-school hours for children, particularly students who attend high-poverty and low-performing schools, we end up the winner by students having something to do other than crime. (Please don’t read any more into that than what I just said). Keeping kids busy by introducing new programs allows us to monitor what the kids are doing, reducing minor crimes that take up a lot of time. This may be a minor benefit as far as dollars and cents go, but it should be added with every dollar we receive as a benefit.
YOU:
“Yes, there are grants available. Does local law enforcement have the time and resources to apply for them all? No. Do they apply for the ones that are most cost effective and that they have the most chance of being awarded? Yes, every opportunity they get.”
ME:
And that is great, I hope it continues. We, however are going to disagree on the availability of grants. They are out there. In talking to people who award grants I have seen that many agencies that only go after the grants “They think apply” miss out on a lot of money. “Time spent writing grants” should be a part of the officers job. I know we are going to disagree on this issue. but that’s OK. I have worked the graveyard shift, I know what kind of time is available. One will never convince me that Reynolds County is so busy they don’t have time for this. Take ANY late afternoon and stop by the 4 way. Or take ANY morning between 8-10 and look at the coffee shop parking lots. If they only use ˝ hour per day they will complete 1-2 grants per month. I think I’m pretty sure who you are and I admire your time to write back and discuss the issues. Thank You. You are extremely smart and I admire your work. I am not trying to make anyone look bad or create hard feelings. I think I have said that 2-3 times in every post. I am simply making the point “That I” think the sheriffs office is over looking a lot of money. Money that enhances Officers, Deputies, and most importantly, the citizens of Reynolds County. You and I have the very same goals however our tactics and objectives are very different, and that’s OK. That’s what the world is made of. I just think we are overlooking something here. I recently overheard a conversation where an officer needed some PPE. (I am sorry but I simply overheard the conversation) I probably should have not been listening but I did. I wanted so much to tell the officer to simply go to Wal-Mart and get a good-works application for a grant. I would bet a paycheck he could get a grant for the PPE within 30 days.
What I am asking, (”Please”) is to stop reading the negative into these posts. You, and I are saying the same thing with a little disagreement on how to get there. Please re-read the posts with a positive attitude and you will see that what I am trying to find benefits the community as well as you are. Including the law enforcement community.
Have a really great day please.
Mike
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