Public Hearing: YES ☐ NO ☒ Department: District Attorney
SUBJECT:
Title
Commission District(s): all
Acceptance of $147,289 for Law Enforcement De-escalation Training Grant to District Attorney’s Office; no match required
Body
Information Contact: Sherry Boston or Roz Harris
Phone Number: 404-371-4773
PURPOSE:
To consider accepting $147,298 under the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council’s Law Enforcement Training Grant initiative to the District Attorney for the grant period of June 01, 2021 - June 30, 2022; and
To authorize the CEO to execute all necessary documents.
NEED/IMPACT:
Through CJCC’s Law Enforcement Training initiative, The District Attorney was awarded funding for the purchase of comprehensive de-escalation simulation equipment. The D.A’s Office will be the custodian of the equipment and both the logistical and training coordinator in a multi-agency collaborative in which law enforcement officers will experience complex, nuanced scenarios, specifically curtailed to each agency’s potential situations, ranging from traffic stops to complex mental health crises, to domestic violence calls. The highly emotionally immersive role play simulations, with interactive, progressively more involved, branching decision trees, will allow officers to self-evaluate and be objectively evaluated by the trainer. The ultimate goal of this training model is an increase in officer and the public’s safety, through de-escalation and a decrease in use of force, ultimately increasing the public’s trust in law enforcement and officers’ confidence in their own instincts to decompress a heated situation, when at all safely possible.
The D.A’s Office will routinely train its full 50-person investigative force. Prior to receipt of the grant, the D.A. had commitments from the DeKalb Marshal to be a training partner, and several local police departments to send officers through the training on an ongoing basis. As it is not commonplace to have this type of equipment in-house, with the grant’s execution, we anticipate even greater interest from local partners and will be formalizing an MOU to include all interested law enforcement entities within DeKalb County.
FISCAL IMPACT:
No additional or matching funds are required, and no additional funds are needed to develop the initiative; no funds are being requested.
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommended Action
Accept $147,298 under the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council’s Law Enforcement Training Grant initiative to the District Attorney for the grant period of June 01, 2021 - June 30, 2022; and authorize the CEO to execute all necessary documents...