[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 159 (Wednesday, August 18, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44942-44945]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-21452]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE


Office of Community Oriented Policing Services; Solicitation for 
the Development of Tools and Products for Policing Agencies To Enhance 
Community Policing and Problem Solving

AGENCY: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, Department of 
Justice.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) is 
seeking proposals to fund the development and dissemination of 
information, guidelines, tools, and products to facilitate the 
implementation of community policing and problem solving. This 
solicitation provides background on the COPS Office and its grant 
programs. It also outlines the purpose of the solicitation and the 
needs it seeks to address, and identifies issues to be discussed by 
applicants seeking to provide services under grants or cooperative 
agreements. Areas of interest to the COPS Office include community 
policing and collaborative problem solving, organizational transitions, 
and uses of technology to advance community policing.
    This solicitation is being announced as an open competition and 
requires a three-week turnaround. Awardees will be expected to begin 
work immediately upon selection.

DATES: Applications are due on September 15, 1999, by 5:00 p.m. EST. 
Please fax a short letter notifying the COPS Office of your intent to 
apply. The letter should be faxed to the attention of COPS/PPSE c/o 
Stacy Curtis Bushee at (202) 633-1386 no later than September 3, 1999. 
The selected awardees will be notified by phone and letter and should 
plan to begin meeting with the COPS Office in Washington, D.C. as early 
as mid October 1999 to begin work on the project.

REQUIREMENTS/LIMITATIONS: Package should include the original 
application and three copies. Applications should not exceed 15 double-
spaced, 12-point typed pages. Budget materials, letters of support/
cooperation, and time lines are considered acceptable appendices and do 
not count toward the narrative page limit.

ADDRESSES: Please send application package to: Office of Community 
Oriented Policing Services; Program/Policy Support and Evaluation 
Division, c/o Stacy Curtis Bushee, 1100 Vermont Ave, NW, Washington, DC 
20530 (20005 for express services).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Please contact Stacy Curtis Bushee at (202) 633-1297 or Karin Schmerler 
at (202) 633-1321 to obtain additional information about this 
solicitation. Application forms and materials on the COPS Office and 
its grant programs are also available by calling the U.S. Department of 
Justice Response Center at 1-800-421-6770 or by visiting the COPS 
Office Internet web site at www.usdoj.gov/cops.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On September 13, 1994, President Clinton signed into law the 
Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (Pub. L. 103-
322). Title I of the ``crime bill,'' the Public Safety Partnership and 
Community Policing Act of 1994, authorizes the Attorney General to make 
grants to States, units of local government, Indian tribal governments, 
other public and private entities, and multi-jurisdictional or regional 
consortia thereof to increase police presence, to expand and improve 
cooperative efforts between law enforcement agencies and members of the 
community, to address crime and disorder problems, to support 
innovative community policing projects, and to otherwise enhance public 
safety.
    Since 1994, the COPS Office has awarded grants to more than 11,000 
policing agencies across the country. The COPS Office has funded the 
hiring of officers, the redeployment of officers through the purchase 
of technology and the hiring of civilians, and a variety of innovative 
policing grants to combat crime and enhance public safety. Innovative 
grants include, for example, funding to foster collaborative problem 
solving between policing agencies and community-based agencies or 
schools, and partnerships between policing agencies and domestic 
violence programs. The COPS Office has also funded the creation of 
Regional Community Policing Institutes (RCPIs) to foster training in 
community policing at the regional level. The goal of programs 
developed and funded by the COPS Office is to provide resources to 
enhance community policing efforts throughout the country. The purpose 
of this solicitation is to fund the development and dissemination of 
informative, easy-to-understand, and easy-to-use products and tools 
that will continue to facilitate the adoption and implementation of 
community policing and collaborative problem solving.

Funding Availability

    The COPS Office anticipates providing a total of up to $600,000 
from FY99 funds to award projects in the areas described below. 
Depending on the fundability of proposals received by the COPS Office, 
funding amounts may be increased or decreased within categories. In 
addition, all categories/parts may not receive funding based upon the 
quality and utility of proposed projects. Awards under this 
solicitation are not dependent on FY00 appropriations to the COPS 
Office. Additional projects may be funded from this solicitation with 
FY00 appropriations if such appropriations are forthcoming. Grants or 
cooperative agreements are awarded for a one year period.

Category I. Collaborative Problem Solving ($150,000)

    Since 1997, the COPS Office has awarded over 450 Problem Solving 
Partnerships (PSP) grants and 150 School-Based Partnerships (SBP) 
grants. The purpose of these grants is to provide policing agencies and 
their community partners with resources that will enhance their ability 
to use the collaborative problem solving approach to address their 
focus crime or disorder problems. PSP and SBP grantees are addressing a 
wide variety of problems, including:

PSP Program

Assault
Street-Level Drug Dealing
Loitering and Disorder
Residential Burglary
Auto Theft/Theft from Auto
Domestic Violence
Commercial Burglary
Underage Drinking
Vandalism/Graffiti
Larceny/Theft
Driving While Intoxicated
Disputes

SBP Program

Assault
Loitering and Disorder
Bullying, Threat and Intimidation
Disputes
Drug Dealing/Alcohol Consumption on School Grounds

[[Page 44943]]

Larceny/Theft
Vandalism/Graffiti
    To continue to enhance the ability of policing agencies and 
communities to effectively address specific crime or disorder problems 
the COPS Office seeks proposals to:
    Category I--Part A. Develop tools to address specific crime or 
disorder problems.
    Problem-specific tools include, but are not limited to: analytical 
instruments (such as environmental surveys, business and residential 
surveys, victim and offender interviews, incident report addendums), 
that will help agencies collect information on particular crime or 
disorder problems; practical, user-friendly information guides 
outlining the state of knowledge on particular crime or disorder 
problems; and/or blueprints on how to apply a problem-solving approach 
to specific crime and disorder problems. Tools and guidelines on how to 
implement and sustain problem-solving collaborations between policing 
agencies and communities/schools that focus on particular crime and 
disorder problems are also welcome. Applicants may suggest additional 
tools that would assist policing agencies and community partners 
attempting to address specific crime and disorder problems.
    Category I--Part B. Develop problem-solving software.
    Implementing a problem-solving approach--for example, one that 
includes phases such as scanning, analyzing, responding, and 
assessing--to reduce crime and disorder requires knowledge of the basic 
strategy and structure of such an approach. Problem-solving software 
that can help guide police practitioners and community members through 
the model to address specific problems and help users develop 
effective, tailored responses would help meet the need for 
individualized assistance in applying the problem-solving approach to 
target problems. Although such software could be used in a training 
settling, the primary purpose of this type of software would be to 
serve as a blueprint for taking a problem-solving approach to 
addressing crime or disorder problems.
    Applicants interested in proposing projects in the Collaborative 
Problem Solving category should propose tools or products that will 
enhance the ability of policing agencies and community organizations to 
collect, analyze and understand different types of information that 
will aid in collaborative problem-solving efforts.

Category II. Organizational Transitions ($250,000)

    As a policing agency transitions ideologically from conducting 
traditional policing activities to operating under the philosophies 
that guide community policing, organizational transformations typically 
occur that will support the new approach. Such transformations include 
altering the structure of a department to enable the community policing 
philosophy and associated functions to be incorporated into the 
responsibilities of department personnel. To assist COPS grantees in 
making such transitions, the COPS Offices seek proposals to do the 
following:
    Category II--Part A. Review and describe the major variations in 
the implementation of community policing among select COPS grantees and 
compile lessons learned from the ways these agencies are implementing 
community policing.
    Policing agencies have implemented community policing in a variety 
of ways. Approaches to implementing community policing include the use 
of specialized units or officers primarily responsible for community 
policing activities; specialized officers within a particular district 
with community policing responsibilities; a split-force approach 
wherein community policing, traditional patrol, and other functions are 
split between major police divisions; a department-wide orientation; 
and combinations of the above. Some agencies begin implementing 
community policing through one approach, and subsequently go on to 
implement one or more different approaches for a variety of reasons. A 
compilation of the experiences of selected COPS grantees that have 
undertaken differing approaches to implementing community policing 
would help inform other policing agencies that are in the process of 
developing and implementing strategies to fit their particular needs.
    This compilation should review the topology described above and 
examine the successes, pitfalls, lessons learned, and resulting 
benefits and drawbacks of each approach.
    Category II--Part B.Develop a practical, easy-to-understand 
guidebook for policing practitioners on designing and implementing call 
management strategies to support community policing.
    The COPS Office is also seeking proposals on the topic of call 
management strategies. An important aspect of organizational transition 
for many policing agencies is the development and implementation of 
call management strategies that support an agency's community policing 
goals. Policing agencies have approached call management in a variety 
of ways, including: managing calls for service through telephone and 
mail-in reporting systems, delaying police response, scheduling 
appointments, and tasking non-sworn personnel to respond to lower 
priority calls. The short-term goal of these strategies has been to 
free-up officer time for collaborative problem-solving efforts; the 
long-term goal has been to increase the effectiveness of the police 
response to community problems.
    The COPS Office seeks proposals to develop a call management 
guidebook that draws upon the promising work and lessons learned by 
policing agencies in the United States and abroad. The guidebook should 
serve as a resource for a wide variety of agencies seeking step-by-step 
assistance in designing and implementing basic call management 
strategies to support community policing efforts. In addition to 
providing information on basic call management strategies, the 
guidebook should include information on cutting-edge experiments with 
call management initiatives that fully integrate problem-oriented 
policing concepts into call receipt, dispatch and resolution.

Category III. Technology ($200,000)

    Through the COPS MORE grant program (Making Officer Redeployment 
Effective), the COPS Office has provided information technology 
resources to support community policing operations. Policing agencies 
nationwide have received and implemented a variety of technology 
applications, including records management, mapping, and computer-aided 
dispatch systems. However, the market for law enforcement technology 
development is largely vendor-driven. There is limited information 
about the universe of applications available for police, and many 
agencies have not had the opportunity to take full advantage of 
advanced information technology tools due to constraints in both design 
and utilization. As such, the COPS Office is seeking proposals to:
    Category III--Part A. Develop guidelines for information technology 
acquisition and utilization to support community policing.
    The transition to community policing has placed additional 
information demands on state and local police agencies. These demands 
include the need for real-time data accessibility for problem analysis 
at the beat/sector level, the capacity for data sharing

[[Page 44944]]

among multiple components of local government (i.e., public works, 
sanitation, police, fire), and enhanced mechanisms for the distribution 
of non-sensitive police records to the public. In order to respond to 
these evolving needs, COPS grantees have informally requested 
assistance in the way of minimum-threshold functional requirements for 
information systems that they can use in strategic and organizational 
planning.
    In response to this growing demand, the COPS Office is seeking 
proposals for the development of guidelines to meet the evolving 
information technology needs of policing agencies transitioning to 
community policing. Applicants interested in submitting proposals under 
this section should identify the critical elements that an information 
technology (IT) platform must contain in order to facilitate the 
successful implementation to community policing and meet these 
corresponding information demands.
    Proposals should include an examination of the necessary functional 
elements for a community-oriented IT platform, the necessary IT 
components, and the steps to take to ensure successful interface with 
other local government counterparts. The development of specific 
technical requirements for IT components (i.e., database architecture, 
wireless communications infrastructure) are not sought under this 
solicitation.
    Category III--Part B. Examine applications of information 
technology among policing agencies.
    The ways in which leading law enforcement agencies use data to 
support management decisions, allocate personnel resources, and 
implement community policing/problem solving vary considerably. Some 
agencies have provided information technology (IT) tools to officers 
for crime analysis at the beat level, whereas others have placed 
greater emphasis on making real-time information available to command 
staff. Given these variations, applicants could propose to compare and 
contrast various applications of technology in policing agencies, and 
to assess the subsequent impact on departmental operations, community 
policing, and ultimately, public safety. For example, applicants could 
propose to conduct a critical examination of a top-down accountability-
based policing model in comparison to a decentralized or problem-
oriented policing model, leading to the development of a new IT 
paradigm for policing structured around the most successful elements of 
each strategy. Proposed products could include site-specific case 
studies or comparative documents that include process/impact assessment 
findings.

Applicant Criteria

    Successful applicants must demonstrate a clear understanding of 
community policing and problem solving principles and processes. 
Applicants should have extensive backgrounds in the implementation of 
community policing, including the impact and importance of community 
participation, and the ways in which the implementation of community 
policing can bring about organizational changes within policing 
agencies. Applicants should also be familiar with the uses of 
technology to enhance the delivery of police services and effectiveness 
of community policing efforts. Applicants must state clearly the goals 
and methods of the project, project deliverables, and include a task 
time line for the life of the grant.
    Applicants may submit multiple applications within or across 
categories and parts. For example, an applicant could propose to 
develop deliverables under Part B of the Organizational Transitional 
category, and Parts A and B of the Technology category. However, each 
distinct project must be described in detail in a narrative as 
discussed below and separate budget worksheets and narratives must be 
provided for each project. Supporting documentation such as the SF 424, 
Assurances, Certifications, and Disclosures need not be submitted more 
than once. Applicants are encouraged to be innovative in their 
proposals and should collaborate with policing agencies or personnel in 
the development of applications and in the testing of tools and 
products to assure their usefullness.
    Applicants should meet the following criteria:
    1. Possess relevant expertise in the areas of community policing, 
collaborative problem-solving, police management, and organizational 
change.
    2. Possess significant understanding of and experience working with 
policing agencies operating under the guiding philosophies of community 
policing in rural, suburban, and urban jurisdictions ranging from 
15,000 to over 1,000,000 persons.
    3. Possess significant experience developing tools or products 
aimed at policing audiences.
    4. Possess experience administering federal grants or cooperative 
agreements of more than $100,000.
    5. Have a proven record of working collaboratively on projects with 
other organizations.

How to Apply

    Those interested in submitting proposals in response to this 
solicitation must complete the required application forms and submit 
related required documents. Applicants must include the following 
information/forms to qualify for consideration:
     Standard Form (SF) 424--application for Federal assistance
     Table of Contents
     Proposal Abstract (include the category and part under 
which you are applying)
     Project Narrative (see additional detail in Items #1-6 
below)
     Project Time Line (Item #7)
     Budget Detail Worksheet (see additional detail in Item #8)
     Budget Narrative (see additional detail in Item #8)
     Names and affiliations of all key project staff, including 
subcontractor(s), advisors, and consultants
     Resumes of key project staff (relevant experience for 
proposed project should be highlighted)
     Assurances
     Certifications Regarding Lobbying, Debarment, Suspension 
and Other Responsibility Matters; and Drug-Free Workplace Requirements 
(one form)
     Disclosure of Lobbying Activities
    The project narrative should not exceed 15 pages and should detail 
the proposed project and the deliverables that will result, including 
planes to pilot test deliverables with policing agencies to assure the 
ease of use and utility of such deliverables. The required forms, 
resumes, time line and budget information do not count toward the page 
length. Each proposed project must be described in a separate narrative 
and must be accompanied by a separate budget narrative and worksheets.

Capabilities

    Project narratives should address the following issues. If you or 
your organization is proposing more than one distinct project under 
this solicitation, include a discussion of all items except for Item #4 
in each of the project narratives.
    1. Describe in detail the project you would undertake. Be specific 
with regard to the kinds of deliverables that would result and how 
those deliverables would assist policing agencies implementing 
community policing and problem solving. Be sure to describe how the 
deliverables would be pilot tested within policing agencies to assure 
the ease of use and utility of such deliverables.
    2. Discuss your management plan for implementing this project with 
respect

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to internal and external management of personnel and resources.
    3. Discuss how information collected or products/tools developed 
under this project could be disseminated to promote the implementation 
of community policing and problem-solving approaches in the future. 
Discuss how police practitioners, community members, and others with an 
interest in crime prevention could access the products developed under 
this project.
    4. Describe your understanding of and experience with community 
policing and problem solving. Describe your background and experience 
in developing tools or other products aimed at facilitating the use of 
new approaches to crime reduction by policing agencies.
    5. Describe your understanding of policing agencies and their 
culture, as it applies to the focus area addressed in your proposal.
    6. Based on your experience with the evolution of community 
policing and problem solving, please describe the primary 
organizational obstacles to the implementation of community policing, 
and how your proposed deliverables would assist COPS grantees and other 
agencies in institutionalizing community policing and problem solving.

Timeline

    7. Provide a detailed one-year task time line to describe the 
activities included in your project plan.

Budget

    8. Prepare a detailed budget and budget narrative for a one-year 
agreement. Awards are expected to range from $50,000 to $350,000, 
depending on the scope of the initiative and proposed deliverables. The 
budget may include travel and per diem costs related to collaborating 
with policing agencies, mailing or telephone costs for information 
collection, and production, pilot testing, and dissemination costs for 
all deliverables.
    The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) reference for 
this program is 16.710.

    Dated: August 6, 1999.
Mary Lou Leary,
Acting Director, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, U.S. 
Department of Justice.
[FR Doc. 99-21452 Filed 8-17-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-AT-M