Public Hearing: YES ☐ NO ☒ Department: Board of Commissioners - District 6
SUBJECT:
Title
Commission District(s): All DeKalb County Commission Districts
A Budget Resolution for DeKalb County Repurposing Unspent Police Budget Funds for Community Services and Recruitment Investments
Body
Information Contact: Commissioner Edward C. “Ted” Terry
Phone Number: 404-371-4909
PURPOSE:
This proposed Resolution supports repurposing unspent police budget funds for important and needed community services and recruitment investments.
NEED/IMPACT:
DeKalb County Government recognizes the urgent need to address violent crime, youth violence and loss of learning in our schools throughout our community. Across the country, law enforcement agencies struggle to recruit, hire, and retain police officers for reasons that span social, economic, and political factors. To compound this problem, in some departments, officers are retiring at a faster rate than they are being replaced. Successful recruitment requires effort, experimentation, and commitment to continuous improvement of current approaches.
Our DeKalb County Police Department (DKPD) is dedicated to the safety and well-being of the community and works diligently to mitigate youth and violent crimes, as well as to develop innovative ways to recruit, retain, and equip our offices with the resources critical to safely maintain order a along with ongoing efforts to improve community engagement.
Every year, the DeKalb County Police Department budget has unspent funds designated for vacant police positions; and the use of those funds in past budget years has rolled over into the Police Reserve Fund balance. This resolution supports repurposing these unspent police budget funds to a multi-faceted public safety strategy to help address the issues of recruitment, retention, community engagement, along with investments to ensure the most comprehensive and holistic approaches for keeping DeKalb County neighborhoods safe now and in the future.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Fiscal impact, if any, is not known at this time.
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommended Action
To approve the resolution and authorize the chief executive officer to execute all necessary documents to repurposing unspent police budget funds for important and needed community services and recruitment investments.