SR 10-10-2017 3I
City Council Report
City Council Meeting: October 10, 2017
Agenda Item: 3.I
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Jacqueline Seabrooks, Police Chief, Police Department
Subject: Accept California Office of Traffic Safety Grant for the Selective Traffic
Enforcement Program
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Authorize the City Manager to accept a grant award in the amount of $300,000
from the California Office of Traffic Safety for the Selective Traffic Enforcement
Program.
2. Authorize the City Manager to execute all necessary documents to accept the
grant and all grant renewals.
3. Authorize budget changes as outlined in the Financial Impacts & Budget Actions
section of this report.
Executive Summary
In accord with the City of Santa Monica’s “Vision Zero” to eliminate traffic deaths and
injuries, the Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) has been awarded a $300,000
Strategic Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) grant from the California Office of Traffic
Safety (OTS) for a yearlong program of education and special enforcement efforts to
help prevent traffic-related deaths and injuries. SMPD would utilize the funding as part
of the City’s ongoing commitment to maintain safe roadways to improve quality of life.
No local matching funds are required.
The STEP grant would provide funding for an array of best practice strategies to impact
traffic safety including training, community education, and equipment to support the
grant funded activities, as well as strategic enforcement to promote bicycle, pedestrian,
and motorist safety. These efforts are consistent with the overarching goals of the Santa
Monica Police Department, including the Vision Zero initiative, as well as the City
Council’s Strategic Goal of creating a new model of mobility.
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Background
The Santa Monica Police Department has been awarded OTS STEP grant funding
annually for more than ten years. With the annual OTS STEP grant funds, the Santa
Monica Police Department has been able to conduct a variety of targeted traffic
enforcement operations as well as attend annual trainings and purchase equipment to
support enforcement operations, all of which are specifically directed toward improving
roadway safety in Santa Monica. With last year’s OTS Step grant, the Santa Monica
Police Department was able to conduct thirty-seven pedestrian and bicycle safety
operations, forty-nine traffic enforcement operation, and twenty-one distracted driver
operations, as well as fund a changeable message sign trailer with radar that has been
a valuable communications tool throughout the city.
The traffic enforcement operations funded by the grant include operations targeting
distracted driving, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, speeding, unsafe
turning, and other leading causes of death and injury on Santa Monica streets, based
on data collected annually. These targeted enforcement operations aim to help the
Santa Monica community share the road and are a proven strategy for reducing the
number of injury traffic collisions, and help Santa Monica reach the goals of Vision Zero.
The safe movement throughout the city is an ongoing high priority at the state and local
level, particularly as Santa Monica has experienced a substantial impact to traffic flow in
the Downtown area as a result of the return of METRO’s Light Rail service. Following
the launch of the Breeze Bike Share program, there has been a significant increase in
the number of community members and visitors who are opting to use bicycles as an
alternative transportation mode. Current statistics show that 28.8% of Santa Monica
residents opt to utilize alternative modes of travel other than a vehicle. This includes
walking, biking, and various modes of public transit. This grant award would support and
enhance the Police Department’s efforts to promote safe movement throughout Santa
Monica.
Discussion
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The STEP grant would be implemented and administered by the Police Department’s
Traffic Enforcement Unit in three phases. Phase one consists of the creation of
operational plans for the Police Department based on statistical data pertaining to traffic
collisions and complaints in our city. This phase is also geared towards the preparation
of training for various stakeholders in our community; including, local schools,
retirement communities, as well as neighborhood and business organizations. In phase
two, the Police Department’s Traffic Enforcement Unit would begin conducting various
traffic safety operations, including bicycle and pedestrian enforcement operations, DUI
saturation patrols, DUI checkpoints, distracted driving operations, traffic enforcement
operations, and motorcycle safety operations. Phase three would consist of data
collection, analysis, and comparison of the grant performance measures against actual
grant enforcement and educational goals.
Additionally, the STEP grant program would include 14 traffic safety educational
presentations at the local schools, retirement communities, as well as neighborhood
and business organizations, with a target audience of at least 500 community members;
continued participation in the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) Task Force meetings;
targeted enforcement along the PCH corridor within Santa Monica; participation in the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Summer and Winter Mobilization to
effectively address DUI drivers; participation in the annual National Distracted Driving
Awareness Month in April 2018; and participation in the annual Click It or Ticket
mobilization period in May 2018.
With this grant, the goal is to utilize both education and enforcement strategies to
provide enhanced roadway safety for residents and visitors in the City of Santa Monica
while also ultimately reducing the number of persons killed or injured in all categories of
traffic collisions. Key performance measurements goals outlined in the grant include the
reduction of people killed or injured in any type of traffic collision; including vehicular,
pedestrian, bicyclist and motorcycle collisions. Further, the performance goals include
reducing the number of alcohol and drug impaired drivers on our roadways as well as
reduce the amount of hit and run traffic collision we experience in the city. These goals
pertain to daytime as well as nighttime.
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Additionally, the Santa Monica Police Department has fourteen objectives associated
with this grant. These objectives include conducting six DUI and Driver’s License
Checkpoints, training one of our officers to become a Drug Recognition Expert and to
participate in the various OTS traffic safety campaigns (National Walk to School Day,
National Bicycle Safety Month, Click-it or Ticket, National Child Passenger Safety Week
etc.). As the City of Santa Monica continues to embrace biking and walking, yet
simultaneously welcoming various other transportation modes, this OTS Step grant will
enable the Santa Monica Police Department to strategically coordinate our efforts to
meet these goals and objectives.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
Award of a $300,000 grant from California Office of Traffic Safety requires the following
FY 2017-18 budget changes:
1. Establish revenue budget at account 20306.406859 in the amount of $300,000.
2. Appropriate the following expenditures to reflect receipt of the Selective Enforcement
Traffic Program grant:
$22,200 expenditure cost at account 20306.576517
$277,800 personnel cost at account 20306.511490 89013W
Prepared By: Joseph Cortez, Sergeant
Approved
Forwarded to Council