[Federal Register: April 2, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 64)]
[Notices]
[Page 17451-17453]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr02ap04-97]
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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services
FY 2004 Community Policing Discretionary Grants
AGENCY: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, Department of
Justice.
ACTION: Notice of funding availability.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented
Policing Services (COPS) announces the availability of the COPS in
Schools grant program, which will assist law enforcement agencies in
hiring new, additional School Resource Officers (SROs) to engage in
community policing in and around primary and secondary schools. This
program provides an incentive for law enforcement agencies to build
collaborative partnerships with the school community and to use
community policing efforts to combat
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school violence. The School Resource Officer must devote at least 75%
of their time to work in and around primary and secondary schools, in
addition to the time that your agency was devoting in the absence of
the COPS in Schools grant.
The COPS in Schools program provides a maximum federal contribution
of up to $125,000 per officer position over the three-year grant
period, with any remaining costs to be paid with local funds. Officers
paid with COPS in Schools funding can only be hired on or after the
grant award start date. In addition, all jurisdictions that apply must
demonstrate that they have primary law enforcement authority over the
school(s) identified in their application and demonstrate their
inability to implement this project without federal assistance.
DATES: There will be one application deadline for the COPS in Schools
(CIS) program in 2004: May 17, 2004. All applications must be
postmarked on or before the final deadline date of May 17, 2004 to be
considered for funding. All grant awards are subject to the
availability of funding. Previous editions of the COPS in Schools
application developed prior to March of 2004 will not be accepted.
ADDRESSES: To obtain a copy of the CIS 2004 Application Kit please call
the U.S. Department of Justice Response Center at 1 (800) 421-6770 or
visit the COPS Web site at http://www.cops.usdoj.gov or http://www.
.grants.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Please contact the U.S. Department of
Justice Response Center at 1 (800) 421-6770 or your COPS Grant Program
Specialist. Additional information on the COPS in Schools program and
the COPS Office in general is also available on the COPS Web site at:
http://www.cops.usdoj.gov.
Overview
The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (Pub. L.
103-322) authorizes the Department of Justice to make grants to
increase deployment of law enforcement officers to increase or enhance
community policing in this nation. Many communities are discovering
that trained, sworn law enforcement officers assigned to schools play
an integral part in the development and/or enhancement of a
comprehensive school safety plan. The presence of these officers
provides schools with a direct link to local law enforcement agencies.
School Resource Officers (SROs) may serve in a variety of roles
including, but not limited to, that of a law enforcement officer/safety
specialist, law-related educator, and problem solver/community liaison.
These officers may teach programs such as crime prevention, substance
abuse prevention, and gang resistance as well as monitor and assist
troubled students through mentoring programs. The School Resource
Officer(s) may also identify physical changes in the environment that
may reduce crime in and around the schools, as well as assist in
developing school policies which address criminal activity and school
safety.
COPS in Schools funding must be used to hire new, additional School
Resource Officers, over and above the overall number of sworn officers
that your agency would fund with state or local funds in the absence of
the grant (including other School Resource Officers). Your agency may
not reduce its overall state, locally-funded or Bureau of Indian
Affairs funded level of sworn officers (including other School Resource
Officers or other sworn officers assigned to the schools) as a result
of applying for or receiving COPS in Schools grant funding. In
addition, your agency may not reduce the number of SRO's or other sworn
officers assigned to schools as a result of applying for or receiving
COPS in Schools grant funding. For example, agencies currently
employing one locally-funded School Resource Officer (or any other
officer assigned to the school) that are awarded a School Resource
Officer under the COPS in Schools program should thereafter employ two
School Resource Officers (one locally-funded and one COPS-funded). COPS
in Schools funding may be used to rehire sworn officers previously
employed by your agency who have been laid off for financial reasons
unrelated to the availability of the COPS in Schools grant, but your
agency must obtain prior written approval from the COPS Office.
At the time of application, all applicants must agree to plan for
the retention of each COPS-funded COPS in Schools position awarded at
the conclusion of Federal funding for at least one full local budget
cycle with local, State or other non-COPS funding. The application must
also include a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), signed by the law
enforcement executive and the appropriate school official(s), to
document the roles and responsibilities to be undertaken by the law
enforcement agency and the educational school partner(s) through this
collaborative effort. The application must also include a Narrative
Addendum to document that the School Resource Officer(s) will be
assigned to work in and around primary or secondary schools and provide
supporting documentation in the following areas: problem identification
and justification, community policing strategies to be used by the
officers, quality and level of commitment to the effort, and the link
to community policing.
All agencies receiving awards through the COPS in Schools program
are required to send the officer(s) deployed into the School Resource
Officer position(s) as a result of this grant, and one individual
designated as the School Representative under the grant program, to
attend one COPS in Schools Training. The COPS Office will reimburse
grantees for training, per diem, travel, and lodging costs for
attendance of required participants up to a maximum of $1,200 per
person attending. Should your agency receive a COPS in Schools grant,
your agency will receive additional training information following
notification of the grant award. The COPS in Schools training
requirement must be completed prior to the end of your 36 months of
grant funding for officer positions.
The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) reference for
this program is 16.710.
Dated: March 19, 2004.
Carl Peed,
Director, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.
Government-Wide Grants.gov Project for Electronic Submission of
Applications
To comply with the President's Management Agenda, the Department is
participating as a partner in the new government-wide Grants.gov Apply
site in FY 2004. The COPS in Schools grant program 16.710 is one of the
programs included in the project. If you are an applicant under the
COPS in Schools grant program, you may submit your application to us in
either electronic or paper format.
The project involves the use of the Grants.gov Apply site. Users of
Grants.gov will be able to download a copy of the application package,
complete it off line, and then upload and submit the application via
the Grants.gov site. You may not e-mail an electronic copy of a grant
application to us. We request your participation in Grants.gov.
When you enter the Grants.gov site, you will find information about
submitting an application electronically through the site as well as
the hours of
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operation. We strongly recommend that you do not wait until the
application deadline date to begin the application process through
Grants.gov.
To use Grants.gov, applicants must have a DUNS
number and register in the Central Contractor Registry (CCR). You
should allow a minimum of 5 days to complete the CCR registration.
You may submit all documents electronically,
including all information typically included on the Application for
Federal Education Assistance, Budget Information--Non-Construction
Programs), and all necessary assurances and certifications.
Your application must comply with any page limit
requirements described in this notice.
After you electronically submit your
application, you will receive an automatic acknowledgement from
Grants.gov that contains a Grants.gov tracking number.
We may request that you give us original
signatures on forms at a later date.
If you experience technical difficulties on the
closing date and are unable to meet the May 17, 2004 (Washington, DC
time) deadline, print out your application and follow the application
transmittal instructions included in the application package.
You may access the electronic grant application for the COPS in
Schools Grant Program at: http://www.grants.gov.
Please note that you must locate the downloadable application
package for this program by the CFDA Number or FedGrants Funding
Opportunity Number, which can be found at http://www.fedgrants.gov.
[FR Doc. 04-7423 Filed 4-1-04; 8:45 am]