Title
Governor's Highway Safety Program Grant for Driving While Impaired Task Force
Action
Action:
Adopt a resolution authorizing the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department to accept the fifth year grant award for $187,479 from the Governor's Highway Safety Program for a Driving While Impaired Task Force.
Body
Staff Resource(s):
Kerr Putney, Police
David Sloan, Police
Explanation
* On October 28, 2013, City Council authorized a grant acceptance from the Governor's Highway Safety Program (GHSP) to offset costs of a Driving While Impaired (DWI) Task Force to focus on mitigating DWI and informing the dangers associated with DWI for four years.
* GHSP modified the grant offering and offered a fifth year of funding for the FY 2018 grant for $187,479, which funds 25 percent of the Task Force's personnel costs for six officers and one sergeant assigned to the DWI Task Force.
* A City match of $562,438 is required from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department's (CMPD) operating budget to fund the remaining costs not funded by the grant.
* The grant funded the DWI Task Force at 100 percent in FY 2014 ($797,304), 85 percent in FY 2015 ($488,350), 70 percent in FY 2016 ($418,415), 50 percent in FY 2017 ($359,847), and will fund 25 percent in FY 2018 ($187,479), which equals a net savings of $2,251,395 over the five-year grant award period.
* In FY 2019, the City will resume the total costs of the DWI Task Force.
* The DWI Task Force continues to be a significant factor in the number of enforcement actions taken by CMPD with less City funds as a result of the multiple NC GHSP grants received.
* The DWI Task Force conducted over 30 educational awareness sessions with area high school students and instructed over 100 officers in standardized field sobriety testing.
* In FY 2017, the DWI Task Force charged 681 drivers with DWI, issued 2,500 traffic citations, and assisted with 22 DWI related fatality cases.
* GHSP requires that...
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