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INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM
Date: January 24, 2024
To: The Honorable Mayor and City Council
Through: Ronald Burton, City Manager �(
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From: Timothy Duriso, Chief of Police....„6A
RE: P.R. 23580- Body-Worn Camera Grant
Introduction:
The intent of this Agenda Item is to ratify the City Manager's decision to apply for the FY25
Body-Worn Camera Grant, which was due on February 8, 2024.
Background:
On 12/11/2023 the Office of Governor, Public Safety Office opened the FY25 Body-Worn
Camera Grant with the expectation to make available $10 million dollars. This grant is to help
supply police officers with body-worn cameras, equipment, storage, and cloud systems. They
have made eligible subscriptions and/ or leasing services that fall within the 12-month
performance period. The police department is currently in a 5-year contract with Utility
Associates Inc., passed on September 27, 2022 — Resolution No. 22-443, for the amount of
$151,104.90.This grant will solely cover the percentage of the amount pertaining to Body-Worn
Cameras, which excludes the amount pertaining to the in-car systems.
Budget Impact:
The grant is requiring a 25% match. Funds are available for this cash match in account
#001-17-045-5470-00-30-000, as approved by Resolution No. #22-443.
"Remember,we are here to serve the Citizens of Port Arthur”
P.O.Box 1089 X Port Arthur,Texas 77641-1089 X 409.983.8101 X FAX 409.982.6743
City of
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www.PortArthurTx.gov
Recommendation:
It is recommended that City Council ratify the City Manager's decision for the Police
Department to apply for the FY25 Body-Worn Camera Grant, as outlined above.
"Remember,we are here to serve the Citizens of Port Arthur"
P.O.Box 1089 X Port Arthur,Texas 77641-1089 X 409.983.8101 X FAX 409.982.6743
P.R. No. 23580
1-24-24 sh
RESOLUTION NO.
A RESOLUTION RATIFYING THE CITY MANAGER' S DECISION
TO APPLY FOR THE FY 2025 BODY-WORN CAMERA GRANT.
WHEREAS, the Office of the Governor, Public Safety Office
Criminal Justice Division authorized the FY 2025 Body-Worn
Camera Grant Program; and
WHEREAS, to assist in obtaining body-worn cameras for
peace officers, obtaining digital video storage, and retrieval
systems, and subscriptions and/or leasing services that fall
within the 12-month performance period; and
WHEREAS, the City of Port Arthur Police Department
entered into a five-year contract with Utility Associates Inc.
for these services on the 27th day of September, 2022 under
P. R. No. 22703, Resolution No. 22-443, in the amount of
$151, 104 . 90 per year; and
WHEREAS, this grant would cover the percentage of this
amount solely dealing with the body-worn camera, excluding the
percentage pertaining to the in-car video system; and
WHEREAS, there is a 25% cash match requirement under this
program.
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF PORT ARTHUR:
Section 1 . That the facts and opinions in the preamble
are true and correct .
P.R. No. 23580
1-24-24 sh
Section 2 . That the City Council hereby ratifies the
City Manager' s decision to apply for the FY 2025 Body-Worn
Camera Grant Program.
Section 3 . That a copy of the Resolution shall be spread
upon the Minutes of the City Council .
READ, ADOPTED AND APPROVED on this day of
A. D. , 2024, at a Regular Meeting of the City Council of the
City of Port Arthur, Texas, by the following vote:
AYES :
Mayor:
Councilmembers:
NOES:
Thurman Bill Bartie
Mayor
ATTEST:
Sherri Bellard
City Secretary
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
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City Attorney
APPROVED FOR ADMINISTRATION:
Ronald Burton, CPM Timothy W. Duriso
City Manager Chief of Police
P.R. No. 23580
1/24/2024 SH
EXHIBIT "A"
Name:
Available
Body-Worn Camera 12/11/2023
Grant Program, FY2025 Due Date
02/08/2024
Purpose:
The purpose of this announcement is to solicit applications from law enforcement agencies to
equip peace officers with body-worn cameras.
Available Funding:
State funds for these projects are authorized under the Texas General Appropriations Act, Article I,
Rider 35 for Trusteed Programs within the Office of the Governor. All awards are subject to the
availability of appropriated funds and any modifications or additional requirements that may be
imposed by law. The Public Safety Office (PSO) expects to make available $10M for FY2025.
Eligible Organizations:
Applications may be submitted by the Texas Department of Public Safety, municipalities, and
counties that operate law enforcement agencies employing peace officers under Article 2.12,
Texas Code of Criminal Procedure.
All applications submitted by local law enforcement agencies/offices must be submitted by a unit
of government affiliated with the agency, including an authorizing resolution from that unit of
government. For example, police departments must apply under their municipal government, and
community supervision and corrections departments, district attorneys, and judicial districts must
apply through their affiliated county government (or one of the counties, in the case of agencies
that serve more than one county).
Application Process:
Applicants must access the PSO's eGrants grant management website at
https://eGrants.gov.texas.gov to register and apply for funding.
Key Dates:
Funding Anouncemtent Release 12/11/2023
Online System Opening Date 12/11/2023
Final Date to Submit and Certify an 02/08/2024 at 5:00PM CST
Application
Earliest Project Start Date 09/01/2024
Project Period:
Projects must begin on or after 09/01/2024 and may not exceed a 12 month project period.
Funding Levels
Minimum: None
Maximum: None
Match Requirement: 25%
Standards
Grantees must comply with standards applicable to this fund source cited in the Texas
Grant Management Standards (TxGMS), Federal Uniform Grant Guidance,_and all statutes,
requirements, and guidelines applicable to this funding.
Eligible Activities and Costs
Funds may be used for obtaining body-worn cameras, digital video storage, and retrieval systems
or cloud-based services. Subscriptions and/or leasing services that fall within the 12-month
performance period are eligible.
Program-Specific Requirements
Eligible officers. Pursuant to Sec. 1701.652, Occupations Code, grant funds may only be used to
equip peace officers (as defined by Article 2.12, Texas Code of Criminal Procedure) who:
1. Engage in traffic or highway patrol or otherwise regularly detain or stop motor vehicles; or
2. Primary responders who respond directly to calls for assistance from the public.
Policy. Pursuant to Sec. 1701.655, Occupations Code, a law enforcement agency that receives a
grant to provide body worn cameras to its peace officers or that otherwise operates a body worn
camera program shall adopt a policy for the use of body worn cameras. The policy must ensure
that a body worn camera is activated only for a law enforcement purpose and must include:
1. Guidelines for when a peace officer should activate a camera or discontinue a recording
currently in progress, considering the need for privacy in certain situations and at certain
locations.
2. Provisions relating to data retention, including a provision requiring the retention of video for
a minimum period of 90 days.
3. Provisions relatingto storage of video and audio, creation of backupcopies of the video and
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audio, and maintenance of data security.
4. Guidelines for public access, through open records requests, to recordings that are public
information.
5. Provisions entitling an officer to access any recording of an incident involving the officer
before the officer is required to make a statement about the incident.
6. Procedures for supervisory or internal review.
7. The handling and documenting of equipment and malfunctions of equipment.
IG8. Consistent with the Federal Rules of Evidence and Texas Rules of Evidence.
The policy may not require a peace officer to keep a body worn camera activated for the entire
period of the officer's shift.
Training. Pursuant to Sec. 1701.656, Occupations Code, a law enforcement agency must provide
training to:
1. Peace officers who will wear the body worn cameras.
2. Any other personnel who will come into contact with video and audio data obtained from the
use of body worn cameras.
Reporting. Pursuant to Sec. 1701.653, Occupations Code, a law enforcement agency shall
annually report to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE) regarding the costs of
implementing a body worn camera program, including all known equipment costs and costs for
data storage.
Eligibility Requirements
1. Local units of governments must comply with the Cybersecurity Training requirements
described in Section 772.012 and Section 2054.5191 of the Texas Government Code. Local
governments determined to not be in compliance with the cybersecurity requirements required by
Section 2054.5191 of the Texas Government Code are ineligible for OOG grant funds until the
second anniversary of the date the local government is determined ineligible. Government entities
must annually certify their compliance with the training requirements using the cybersecurity_
Training Certification for State and Local Governments. A copy of the Training Certification must
be uploaded to your eGrants application. For more information or to access available training
programs, visit the Texas Department of Information Resources Statewide Cybersecurity_
Awareness Training page.
2. Entities receiving funds from PSO must be located in a county that has an average of 90% or
above on both adult and juvenile dispositions entered into the computerized criminal history
database maintained by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) as directed in the Texas Code
of Criminal Procedure, Chapter 66. The disposition completeness percentage is defined as the
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percentage of arrest charges a county reports to DPS for which a disposition has been
subsequently reported and entered into the computerized criminal history system.
Counties applying for grant awards from the Office of the Governor must commit that the county
will report at least 90 percent of convictions within five business days to the Criminal Justice
Information System at the Department of Public Safety
3. Eligible applicants operating a law enforcement agency must be current on reporting complete
UCR data and the Texas specific reporting mandated by 411.042 TGC, to the Texas Department of
Public Safety (DPS) for inclusion in the annual Crime in Texas (CIT) publication. To be considered
eligible for funding, applicants must have submitted a full twelve months of accurate data to DPS
for the most recent calendar year by the deadline(s) established by DPS. Due to the importance of
timely reporting, applicants are required to submit complete and accurate UCR data, as well as the
Texas-mandated reporting, on a no less than monthly basis and respond promptly to requests
from DPS related to the data submitted.
4. In accordance with Texas Government Code, Section 420.034, any facility or entity that collects
evidence for sexual assault or other sex offenses or investigates or prosecutes a sexual assault or
other sex offense for which evidence has been collected, must participate in the statewide
electronic tracking system developed and implemented by the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Visit DPS's Sexual Assault Evidence Tracking Program website for more information or to set up an
account to begin participating. Additionally, per Section 420.042 "A law enforcement agency that
receives evidence of a sexual assault or other sex offense...shall submit that evidence to a public
accredited crime laboratory for analysis no later than the 30th day after the date on which that
evidence was received." A law enforcement agency in possession of a significant number of Sexual
Assault Evidence Kits (SAEK) where the 30-day window has passed may be considered
noncompliant.
5. Local units of government, including cities, counties and other general purpose political
subdivisions, as appropriate, and institutions of higher education that operate a law enforcement
agency, must comply with all aspects of the programs and procedures utilized by the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security ("DHS") to: (1) notify DHS of all information requested by DHS
related to illegal aliens in Agency's custody; and (2) detain such illegal aliens in accordance with
requests by DHS. Additionally, counties and municipalities may NOT have in effect, purport to
have in effect, or make themselves subject to or bound by, any law, rule, policy, or practice
(written or unwritten) that would: (1) require or authorize the public disclosure of federal law
enforcement information in order to conceal, harbor, or shield from detection fugitives from
justice or aliens illegally in the United States; or (2) impede federal officers from exercising
authority under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), § 1226(c), § 1231(a), § 1357(a), § 1366(1), or § 1366(3). Lastly,
eligible applicants must comply with all provisions, policies, and penalties found in Chapter 752,
Subchapter C of the Texas Government Code.
Each local unit of government, and institution of higher education that operates a law
enforcement agency, must download, complete and then upload into eGrants the CEO/Law
Enforcement Certifications and Assurances Form certifying compliance with federal and state
immigration enforcement requirements. This Form is required for each application submitted to
OOG and is active until August 31, 2025 or the end of the grant period, whichever is later.
6. Eligible applicants must be registered in the federal System for Award Management (SAM)
database and have an UEI (Unique Entity ID) number assigned to its agency (to get registered in
the SAM database and request an UEI number, go to https://sam.gov/).
Failure to comply with program eligibility requirements may cause funds to be withheld and/or
suspension or termination of grant funds.
Prohibitions
Grant funds may not be used to support the unallowable costs listed in the Guide to Grants or
any of the following unallowable costs:
1. Any costs ancillary to the purchase of body-worn cameras, video storage, and retrieval
systems or cloud-based services such as policy development, training costs, and staff;
2. Any in-car cameras and/or service agreements for in-car camera software; and
3. Any other prohibition imposed by federal, state or local law or regulation.
Selection Process
Application Screening: The Office of the Governor will screen all applications to ensure that they
meet the requirements included in the funding announcement.
Peer/Merit Review: The Office of the Governor will review applications to understand the overall
demand for the program and for significant variations in costs per item. After this review, the
Office of the Governor will determine if all eligible applications can be funded based on funds
available, if there are cost-effectiveness benefits to normalizing or setting limits on the range of
costs, and if other fair share cuts may allow for broader distribution and a higher number of
projects while still remaining effective.
Final Decisions: The Office of the Governor will make all final funding decisions based on
eligibility, reasonableness, availability of funding, geographic distribution, cost effectiveness, or
other relevant factors.
The Office of the Governor may not fund all applications or may only award part of the amount
requested. In the event that funding requests exceed available funds, the Office of the Governor
may revise projects to address a more limited focus.
Contact Information
For more information, contact the eGrants help desk at eGrants@gov.texas.gov or (512) 463-1919.
Total Funds
$10 Million
Body-Worn Camera Grant Quote
Amount per month/per 1 Front-line Body Cameras Months per year TOTAL
SYSTEM/SOFTWARE $95.97 65 12 $ 74,856.60
Body Cameras $885.00 65 0 $57,525.00
Whole Total $ 132,381.60
Contract yearly price $151,104.90
Amount not covered by Brant $18,723.30
for the year
25%City Match $ 33,095.40
CITYS FINAL COST $ 51,818.70
IF GRANT WON