To: Board of County Commissioners
Through: Tyler S. Brown, Sheriff
Prepared By:
prepared
Jon Takayama, Human Resources Manager
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presenter
Presenter: Mark Nicastle, Undersheriff
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Subject:
title
1:15 PM *SB22-145 Law Enforcement Workforce Recruitment, Retention, and Tuition Grant
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Purpose and Request:
recommended action
The Board of County Commissioners is requested to allow the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) to apply for the 2023-2024 SB22-145 Law Enforcement Workforce Recruitment, Retention, and Tuition Grant.
If awarded, the ACSO requests authorization to accept the grant and requests the Board of County Commissioners to authorize the Sheriff to sign the grant award.
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Background and Discussion: The ACSO wishes to apply for a grant funded by the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice to provide additional funding to expand recruitment efforts, increase retention, enhance training, and improve relationships between law enforcement and impacted communities. Recruiting and maintaining a strong law enforcement workforce is crucial to Arapahoe County’s commitment to Quality of Life for its citizens.
Alarmingly, the ACSO’s vacancy rate has tripled in just two years from 3.42% in 2020 to 10.53% today. Equally disturbing is the 48.79% increase in vacancies from August of last year until now. It is imperative to the safety of the citizens of Arapahoe County that these vacancies be filled with qualified employees, who want to continue their law enforcement career with Arapahoe County.
We intend to use the funding from this grant to hire a consultant webmaster to design and construct a professional and eye-catching ACSO recruiting website; utilize marketing consultants through top-tier, online recruiting platforms; launch an advertising strategy to generate more attention to the law enforcement careers available; increase training opportunities for professional growth and development of employees; implement programs for resiliency building and training, mentoring, and welcome-to-law-enforcement culture education; and enhance recruiter training.
Fiscal Impact: There are no additional fiscal impacts as there is not a matching fund requirement for this grant.
Alternatives: The alternative is to not accept the grant and either find additional funding for these initiatives elsewhere, or continue current processes.
Alignment with Strategic Plan:
☐Be fiscally sustainable
☒Provide essential and mandated service
☒Be community focused
Concurrence: The Sheriff’s Office Administration and Support Services Bureau are in concurrence with this decision.