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Recommendation to authorize City Manager to execute a new agreement between the Long Beach Police Department and the Long Beach Unified School District to staff School Resource Officers (SROs) and Juvenile Car Officers for an amount not to exceed $532,000. The net cost to the City's General Fund for the agreement is estimated to be $379,945. (Citywide)
DISCUSSION
The Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) is seeking to enter into a new agreement with the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) for the period of October 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009, for the current school year.
Due to lengthy negotiations between the City and LBUSD, the terms of this new agreement were not settled until late March 2009. Consequently, services from October 1, 2008 through April 30, 2009 have already been rendered.
From October 1,2008 through March 31,2009, the new agreement continues the same level of service (approximately 9 police officers and 1 sergeant) and payment terms of the previous agreement, with a School Resources Officer (SRO) on each high school campus and Juvenile Car Officers responding to calls for service at the middle and elementary schools. The cost of this service will be $759,891, and will be split evenly between the City and LBUSD.
Effective April 1, 2009, through June 30, 2009, LBUSD will reimburse the City for 100 percent of the Police Department's costs including indirect costs during the last three months of the agreement. The level of service to be provided will be determined by LBUSD based on it's available funding, which is approximately $152,000.
SROs provide LBUSD with an additional resource to reduce and prevent student-related problems. The LBPD began the program in 1999 as a preventive measure following the Columbine incident. Since it's inception, LBUSD officials believe the high schools are
safer and benefit from a low crime rate because of this partnership, which serves to meet the City Council's stated priority to further reduce...
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