165.986 Beat patrol officers; grant program.

(1) The department of justice shall provide grants from the appropriations under s. 20.455 (2) (bm) and (kb) to cities to employ additional uniformed law enforcement officers whose primary duty is beat patrolling. A city is eligible for a grant under this subsection in fiscal year 1994-95 if the city has a population of 25,000 or more. A city may receive a grant for a calendar year if the city applies for a grant before September 1 of the preceding calendar year. Grants shall be awarded to the 10 eligible cities submitting an application for a grant that have the highest rates of violent crime index offenses in the most recent full calendar year for which data is available under the uniform crime reporting system of the federal bureau of investigation.

(2) A city applying to the department of justice for a grant under sub. (1) shall include a proposed plan of expenditure of the grant moneys. The grant moneys that a city receives under sub. (1) may be used for salary and fringe benefits only. Except as provided in sub. (3), the positions for which funding is sought must be created on or after April 21, 1994, and result in a net increase in the number of uniformed law enforcement officers assigned to beat patrol duties.

(3) During the first 6 months of the first year of a grant under sub. (1), a city may, with the approval of the department, use part of the grant for the payment of salary and fringe benefits for overtime provided by uniformed law enforcement officers whose primary duty is beat patrolling. A city may submit a request to the department for a 3-month extension of the use of the grant for the payment of overtime costs. To be eligible to use part of the first year's grant for overtime costs, the city shall provide the department with all of the following:

(a) The reasons why uniformed law enforcement officers assigned to beat patrol duties need to work overtime.

(b) The status of the hiring and training of new uniformed law enforcement officers who will have beat patrol duties.

(c) Documentation that a sufficient amount of the grant for the first year will be available, during the period remaining after the payment of overtime costs, to pay the salary and fringe benefits of the same number of uniformed officers whose primary duty is beat patrolling that the grant originally planned to pay.

(4) The department shall develop criteria which, notwithstanding s. 227.10 (1), need not be promulgated as rules under ch. 227, for use in determining the amount to grant to cities under sub. (1). The department may not award an annual grant under sub. (1) in excess of $150,000 to any city. The department shall review any application and plan submitted under sub. (2) to determine if that application and plan meet the requirements of this section. The grant that a city receives under sub. (1) may not supplant existing local resources.

(5) A city may receive a grant under sub. (1) for 3 consecutive years without submitting a new application each year. For each year that a city receives a grant under sub. (1), the city shall provide matching funds of at least 25 percent of the amount of the grant.

(6) The department may make grants under sub. (1) to additional cities with a population of 25,000 or more after fiscal year 1994-95. Eligibility for the grants shall be determined and allocations made as provided in this section.

(7) From the appropriation under s. 20.455 (2) (jc), the department shall make grants in amounts determined by the department to cities with a population of 25,000 or more to reimburse overtime costs for uniformed law enforcement officers whose primary duty is beat patrolling, except that the department may award no more than $400,000 to a city for a calendar year. The grants may be used for salary and fringe benefits only. The grants may be awarded only to the 10 eligible cities submitting an application for a grant that have the highest rates of violent crime index offenses in the most recent full calendar year for which data is available under the uniform crime reporting system of the federal bureau of investigation. A city may receive a grant for a calendar year if the city applies before September 1 of the preceding calendar year and provides the department all of the following:

(a) The reasons why uniformed law enforcement officers assigned to beat patrol duties need to work overtime.

(b) The status of the hiring and training of new uniformed law enforcement officers who will have beat patrol duties.

(c) A proposed plan of expenditure of the grant moneys.

History: 2013 a. 20 ss. 174, 1946; Stats. 2013 s. 165.986; 2017 a. 59; 2017 a. 364 s. 49; 2019 a. 9.