Award Letter from the U.S. Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS)
Office of the Director
1100 Vermont Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20530
July 28, 2009
Chief of Police Edward Flynn
Milwaukee Police Department
749 West State Street
Milwaukee, WI 53233
Mayor Tom Barrett
City of Milwaukee
200 East Wells Street
Room 201
Milwaukee, WI 53233
Re: COPS Hiring Recovery Program Grant # 2009RJWX0088
ORI#: WIMPD00
Dear Chief of Police Flynn and Mayor Barrett:
Congratulations! On behalf of Attorney General Eric Holder, I am pleased to inform you that your department will receive a COPS Hiring Recovery Program (CHRP) grant award for 50 officer positions. The estimated amount of federal funds to be awarded to your jurisdiction over the three-year grant period is $10,298,750.00. Your agency may now begin hiring or rehiring officers to fill CHRP grant-funded positions.
Your agency will be mailed a CHRP grant award package by September 1, 2009. The award package will include the official Award Document, a Financial Clearance Memorandum (FCM), a Final Funding Memorandum (FFM), and a document which outlines how to accept and begin your award. Your agency will have 90 days from the date listed on the letter within your award package to officially accept your award, or request additional time to do so. Also, a supplemental online award package for COPS Hiring Recovery Program grantees can be found on the program Web site. We strongly encourage you to visit this site immediately to access a variety of important and helpful documents associated with your award, including the CHRP Grant Owner’s Manual, which specifies the terms, conditions, and requirements of your grant. A Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document can be found online, which should be helpful in answering many questions you may have about your new CHRP award.
Please be aware that each CHRP application was subject to a thorough review, and some of your application information may have been updated or corrected from the original version submitted to COPS. At this time, we strongly encourage you to access your application at , and print and maintain a copy for your records (if you are unable to print a copy of your application, please contact the COPS Office at 800.421.6770). Please pay special attention to Section 7, which contains the final salary and fringe benefit amounts and categories for which your agency was approved. You will note that some costs may have been adjusted or removed. Your agency may be reimbursed only from within the cost categories that are documented within Section 7 of this final application. Similar information regarding your approved salary and benefits amounts will also be located on the FCM and FFM, which will be included in your award package.
As a reminder, all positions awarded under CHRP (or an equal number of veteran officers) must initiate or enhance community policing in accordance with the community policing plan as described within Section 5 of your application. If for any reason your agency finds that your community policing plans have significantly changed from those outlined in your application (e.g., because you received fewer officers than originally requested and thus must alter the scope of your community policing plans), please revise the plan accordingly and submit it to the COPS Office for review and approval. Similarly, you should also contact the COPS Office if, for any reason, you need to reallocate your awarded positions across the three primary hiring categories (i.e., new hires, rehires of officers laid off pre-application, and rehires of officers laid off or scheduled to be laid off post-application).
As explained at the time of grant application, there are significant reporting requirements on the use of CHRP funds. In addition to quarterly financial and programmatic progress reports submitted to the COPS Office, CHRP grantees are also required to submit quarterly Recovery Act reports within 10 days after the end of each calendar quarter to www.FederalReporting.gov. These Recovery Act reports will be made available to the public on www.Recovery.gov. All grantees must be registered as authorized users prior to submitting reports to www.FederalReporting.gov. The registration function on www.FederalReporting.gov will be available no later than August 26, 2009. Please note that registration with this website also requires users to be registered with the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) and have a Dun & Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number. Registering with CCR and obtaining a DUNS number take additional processing time, so your agency should take immediate steps to meet these requirements in advance of registration with www.FederalReporting.gov. For additional information on CCR and DUNS, please refer to the CHRP Grant Owner’s Manual.
Also, please remember that grantees must retain all sworn officer positions awarded under the CHRP grant for a minimum of 12 months following the 36-month federal funding period. The retained CHRP-funded position(s) should be added to your law enforcement budget with state and/or local funds, over and above the number of locally-funded positions that would have existed in the absence of the grant. In your CHRP grant application, your agency was required to affirm that it plans to retain the additional officer positions awarded following the expiration of the grant, and to identify the planned sources of retention funding. If, during the life of the grant, you have questions regarding the retention requirement or your retention funding sources, please contact the COPS Office for assistance.
Once again, congratulations on your CHRP award. We look forward to working with you in a productive partnership to further your community policing efforts. If you have any questions about your grant award, please do not hesitate to call the COPS Office Response Center at 800.421.6770.
Sincerely,
David M. Buchanan
Acting Director