The City of Santa Clarita will be submitting a grant application for the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant offered by the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, in the amount of $12,805, and is inviting public comments on the proposal.
The City and the Sheriff’s Department are committed to improving community safety, and recognize the need for proactive law enforcement and community policing. These grant funds will augment the resources already provided by the City to ensure public safety.
Programs being proposed for funding include: curfew sweeps; graffiti enforcement; truancy sweeps; alcohol stings; bike patrols; surveillance, undercover and sting operations; and probation/parole enforcement. This grant will fund approximately 166 overtime hours for the Sheriff’s Community Interaction Team (CIT) and COBRA Unit. This would allow CIT and COBRA to conduct the proposed operations over and above their normal duties, and augment community policing and law enforcement efforts in the City.
CIT is a specialized unit that responds to pressing community issues, help strengthen neighborhoods, and address quality-of-life issues. Through its active collaboration with different units of the Station and with other agencies, CIT has been very successful in helping keep the crime rate down.
COBRA is the Station’s Gang and Juvenile Crime Unit, and is responsible for investigating crimes perpetrated by juveniles, and for tracking gang activities and gang-related crimes.