Item Description:
title
Amd 1 to Agmt A2110594 with the City of Minneapolis to provide sexual assault prosecution efforts, ext end date to 09/30/24, incr recv by $290,477
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Resolution:
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BE IT RESOLVED, that Amendment 1 to Agreement A2110594 with the City of Minneapolis to provide sexual assault prosecution efforts extending the end date to September 30, 2024 and increasing the receivable by $290,477 for a new total receivable amount of $1,770,477 be approved; that the Chair of the Board be authorized to sign the Agreement on behalf of the County; and that the Controller be authorized to disburse funds as directed; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a supplemental appropriation of $133,322 and one (1) 0.25 Senior Attorney FTE, two (2) 0.25 Investigator FTEs and one (1) 0.25 Legal Services Specialist FTE be applied to the 2023 Hennepin County Attorney’s Office (HCAO) budget; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the sponsorship and acceptance of this grant funding for this program by the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners does not imply a continued funding commitment by the County for this program when grant funds are no longer available.
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Background:
The Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) grant provides funding to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office (HCAO), the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD), the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), and a community victim advocacy group to test all of the untested sexual assault kits in MPD’s custody and to provide victim advocacy, investigation, and prosecution resources for the cases that result from testing those kits. SAKI is a federal grant program under the Department of Justice to help states and local agencies address unsubmitted sexual assault kits in law enforcement custody and to help provide resolution for victims when possible.
In 2019, the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) discovered that it had over 1,700 unsubmitted kits that it had not previously reported in a 2015 statewide audit. HCAO and MPD developed a plan to test all of these kits and began delivering the highest priority kits to the BCA for testing. To increase capacity, MPD provided funding for additional DNA analysts and HCAO provided funding for additional DNA analysts as well as equipment and supplies to increase testing capacity. Even with this funding, however, the BCA reported that it would take years to finish testing all of the kits.
On behalf of the SAKI work group, MPD applied for SAKI grant funding in April 2020 and the project was awarded $2,000,000 in October 2020. HCAO was a subrecipient of the grant award over the three-year period October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2023. This BAR will extend the grant period through September 30, 2024 and increase HCAO’s share of grant funding from $1,480,000 to $1,770,477.
Grant funding supports the work of a site coordinator to manage the overall project, two full-time investigators as well as one full-time and one part-time victim advocate within HCAO. Funding is also provided for victim-related travel expenses (bus, airfare, lodging, mileage, meals) to provide case information and/or testify in cases, and cell phones for safe and protected communication with prosecution staff. Training and conference travel also is supported by the grant.
An overview of staffing and funding for the grant extension from 9/30/23 through 10/1/24 is outlined below.
|
Year |
FTE |
Personnel |
Non-Personnel |
Total |
|
2023 |
4 - 0.25 FTE |
$119,746 |
$13,576 |
$133,322 |
|
2024 |
4 - 0.75 FTE & 1 - 0.38 FTE |
$469,480 |
$29,500 |
$498,980 |
|
Total: |
4.38 FTE |
$589,226 |
$43,076 |
$632,302 |
recommendation
Recommendation from County Administrator: Recommend Approval