REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Approve Budget Modification No. 34 to Appropriate $59,691 of Department of Homeland Security Grant Funds to Equip and Train a Regionally Deployable Public Safety Canine (K9) and Handler as an Arson/Accelerant Detection Team
Report
GRANT SUMMARY
The City Manager applied for, and on August 20, 2014, the City was awarded Department of Homeland Security grant funds in the amount of $59,691 for the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to equip and train a public safety K9 and its handler as an arson/accelerant detection team. The K9 will be cross-trained in protection and arson/accelerant detection. The K9 team will be a regionally deployable asset.
DPS requested this DHS State Homeland Security Grant Program (SHSGP) funding to enhance the region's capabilities to investigate arson-related fires and explosions. A K9 accelerant detection/protection K9 team is a critical resource that the Bay Area as a region currently does not have. The nearest trained teams are located in Oroville, CA to the north and Rancho Cucamonga, CA to the south. Both of these resources are owned by private companies; there are no public teams in this geographic area. This asset is critical to perform complete fire cause investigations and would enhance the Operational Area by providing Santa Clara County a much needed and unique tool to investigate acts of terrorism and related crimes. This resource will allow a faster, more efficient response, rather than waiting for such a resource to arrive at an event involving incendiary devices or fire.
The K9 arson/accelerant detection team will benefit the communities of Sunnyvale, Gilroy, Milpitas, Palo Alto, San Jose, Santa Clara, Mountain View, and Palo Alto, as well as the cities and unincorporated communities covered by the Santa Clara County Fire Department, the South Santa Clara County Fire District, and the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department. Sunnyvale DPS plans to deploy the resource, as need...
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