Title
Appropriation of Unobligated Fund Balance of the Gainesville Police Department’s State Law Enforcement Contraband Forfeiture Trust Fund (NB)
This item requests that the City Commission approve the appropriation of $50,000 of unobligated fund balance in the Gainesville Police Department’s State Law Enforcement Contraband Forfeiture Trust Fund for use on authorized equipment, training, special programs and crime prevention activities.
Explanation
To further increase homeland security and officer safety, equipment and training funded through federal or state forfeiture funds should have more conservative disclosure requirements. Therefore, the process for how forfeiture funds are appropriated should be modified to request a lump sum without a detailed budget.
The City of Gainesville/Alachua County Drug Task Force receives State forfeiture funds through seizures while conducting undercover narcotic details or while working overtime detail on the Problem Oriented Policing (POP) grant. Seizures received while funded under the POP grant are considered Project Generated Income (PGI) and once cleared through the Courts must also meet the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs (OJP) Financial Guide requirements. Both State Law Enforcement Contraband Forfeiture Trust requirement and the Problem Oriented Policing grant (POP) grant set specific guidelines as to the spending of the State Forfeiture funds.
Fiscal Note
The Gainesville Police Department requests the City Commission appropriate $50,000 from State Law Enforcement Contraband Forfeiture Trust Fund for funding for the categories of Equipment, Training, Special Programs and Crime Prevention. The funds for this project are available in the State Law Enforcement Contraband Forfeiture Trust Fund and are allowable for purchases under the categories listed above per Federal 21 U.S.C. § 881, found in the U.S. Department of Justice "A Guide to Equitable Sharing of Federally Forfeited Property fo...
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