The Morgan Hill Police Department will use $100,000 in state funding to offset the burden of local funds and allow officers to spend more time on patrol and perform active police work.
The funding is from the state of California’s Citizens’ Option for Public Safety program, which annually provides cities and counties with supplemental funds for law enforcement services, according to the state’s website. The program is funded by a 0.15 percent vehicle license fee that was enacted in 2009. Each local jurisdiction’s COPS funding amount is based on population, with a minimum of $100,000 allocated to each agency.
In Morgan Hill, the police department will use $90,000 of the state funds to partially supplement the salaries of two multi-service officers, and $10,000 for a part-time, temporary crime scene investigator, according to Chief David Swing.
Civilian multi-service officers perform tasks such as prisoner booking and transportation, and other services in the field and at the police station that a sworn officer would otherwise be responsible for, Swing explained.
“When we have to take someone to County Jail, the booking and transporting process is over two hours from start to finish. This allows us to free up an officer’s time considerably,” Swing said.
The City Council approved the department’s spending plan for the COPS funds at its regular meeting Wednesday.
