Posting Language
Title
Approve an ordinance amending the Fiscal Year 2023-2024 Austin Police Department Operating Budget Special Revenue Fund (Ordinance No. 20230816-008) to accept and appropriate $408,981 in grant funds from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance for the City’s forensic science violent crime and opioid reduction program.
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Lead Department
Austin Police Department.
Fiscal Note
Funding in the amount of $408,981 is available from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance Fiscal Year 2023-2024 Paul Coverdell Forensic Science Improvement Grants Program. A City funding match is not required. A fiscal note is attached.
For More Information:
Jeff Greenwalt, Chief of Staff, Austin Police Department, (512) 974-5030.
Additional Backup Information:
The City Manager’s office reviewed this grant for alignment as directed by Resolution No. 20200611-096 and recommends approval.
This ordinance will accept $408,981 in additional grant funding from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance, and amend the Fiscal Year 2023-2024 Austin Police Department Operating Budget Special Revenue Fund (Ordinance No. 20230816-008) to appropriate $408,981 in grant funds for the three-year performance period (October 1, 2023 - September 30, 2026).
Federal Coverdell funding will enhance crime scene capability, expand firearms capacity, and anticipate and prepare for the next synthetic opioid threat. The project leverages emerging technologies in crime scene collection and interrogation. These include 3D scanners with geospatial technology that increase the speed, accuracy, reliability, and impact of crime scene data, and vacuum metal deposition (VMD) technology with chambers large enough to rapidly, automatically, and more thoroughly interrogate latent prints on large automatic and semi-automatic rifles and shotguns recovered from major crime scenes. Custom and advanced training in liquid and gas chromatography mass spectrometry techniques and equipment maintenance will position our drug chemists for early identification of emerging synthetic opioids affecting the Austin area, and provide timely actionable intelligence needed for our law enforcement and public health response.
Anticipated outcomes: the scanners will improve the accuracy of on-scene diagramming, increase the number of scenes for which the City can offer this service by up to 30 percent, and will enhance contextual scene information valuable to investigators and justice system stakeholders; the VMD purchase will increase the number and value of suitable latent prints available on cold case evidence as well as large firearms and more challenging substrates; the deionizer will provide an additional layer of safety for analysts with potential fentanyl exposure and will increase the accuracy of seized drug evidence measurement; and, the training will increase the capability of analysts and maximize the value of laboratory instrumentation.
The General Fund will not be required to contribute additional funds beyond those currently budgeted to this grant. When the grant funds expire, the departments’ need for continuing funding will be evaluated and may be denied.
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