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LRB-2025/P2
CMH&MLJ:ahe
2019 - 2020 LEGISLATURE
DOA:......Schmidt, BB0372 - Add community policing to beat patrol grants
For 2019-2021 Budget -- Not Ready For Introduction
An Act ...; relating to: the budget.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
justice
1. Grants for community policing officers
Under current law, DOJ must award grants to cities with a population of at least 25,000 to pay salaries and fringe benefits of beat patrol law enforcement officers so that the cities may employ additional officers or to reimburse overtime hours for the officers. DOJ must award the grants to eligible cities that apply that have the highest rates of violent crime, and recipients must provide matching funds of at least 25 percent of the grant. This bill adds that DOJ may, using the same criteria for the current law grants, also award grants to pay salaries and fringe benefits of law enforcement officers who are assigned to community policing so that the cities may employ additional officers who perform such services or to reimburse overtime hours for those officers.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. 165.986 (title), (1), (2), (3) and (7) (intro.), (a) and (b) of the statutes are amended to read:
165.986 (title) Beat patrol and community policing officers; grant program. (1) The department of justice shall provide grants from the appropriation under s. 20.455 (2) (kb) to cities to employ additional uniformed law enforcement officers whose primary duty is beat patrolling or who are assigned to community policing. A city is eligible for a grant under this subsection in fiscal year 1994-95 if the city has a population of 25,000 or more. A city may receive a grant for a calendar year if the city applies for a grant before September 1 of the preceding calendar year. Grants shall be awarded to the 10 eligible cities submitting an application for a grant that have the highest rates of violent crime index offenses in the most recent full calendar year for which data is available under the uniform crime reporting system of the federal bureau of investigation.
(2) A city applying to the department of justice for a grant under sub. (1) shall include a proposed plan of expenditure of the grant moneys. The grant moneys that a city receives under sub. (1) may be used for salary and fringe benefits only. Except as provided in sub. (3), the positions for which funding is sought must be created on or after April 21, 1994, and result in a net increase in the number of uniformed law enforcement officers assigned to beat patrol duties or community policing.
(3) During the first 6 months of the first year of a grant under sub. (1), a city may, with the approval of the department, use part of the grant for the payment of salary and fringe benefits for overtime provided by uniformed law enforcement officers whose primary duty is beat patrolling or who are assigned to community policing. A city may submit a request to the department for a 3-month extension of the use of the grant for the payment of overtime costs. To be eligible to use part of the first year's grant for overtime costs, the city shall provide the department with all of the following:
(a) The reasons why uniformed law enforcement officers assigned to beat patrol duties or community policing need to work overtime.
(b) The status of the hiring and training of new uniformed law enforcement officers who will have beat patrol duties or will be assigned to community policing.
(c) Documentation that a sufficient amount of the grant for the first year will be available, during the period remaining after the payment of overtime costs, to pay the salary and fringe benefits of the same number of uniformed officers whose primary duty is beat patrolling or who are assigned to community policing that the grant originally planned to pay.
(7) (intro.) From the appropriation under s. 20.455 (2) (jc) (bm), the department shall make grants in amounts determined by the department to cities with a population of 25,000 or more to reimburse overtime costs for uniformed law enforcement officers whose primary duty is beat patrolling or who are assigned to community policing, except that the department may award no more than $400,000 to a city for a calendar year. The grants may be used for salary and fringe benefits only. The grants may be awarded only to the 10 eligible cities submitting an application for a grant that have the highest rates of violent crime index offenses in the most recent full calendar year for which data is available under the uniform crime reporting system of the federal bureau of investigation. A city may receive a grant for a calendar year if the city applies before September 1 of the preceding calendar year and provides the department all of the following:
****Note: This is reconciled s. 165.986 (7) (intro.). This Section has been affected by drafts with the following LRB numbers: -2025/P1 and -2081/P1.
(a) The reasons why uniformed law enforcement officers assigned to beat patrol duties or community policing need to work overtime.
(b) The status of the hiring and training of new uniformed law enforcement officers who will have beat patrol duties or will be assigned to community policing.
(End)