Since the passage of the Citizen’s Option for Public Safety in 1996-97, the Bakersfield Police Department (BPD) has received an annual allocation from the State’s Supplemental Law Enforcement Services Fund (SLESF). The program was designed to provide State funds to local law enforcement agencies for the purpose of addressing current front line law enforcement needs. Pursuant to state law, monies allocated from a SLESF to a recipient entity shall be expended exclusively to provide front line law enforcement services. These monies shall supplement existing services, and shall not be used to supplant any existing funding for law enforcement services provided by that entity.
Each year’s SLESF allocation is distributed monthly over a 12 month period, then appropriated into the following year’s Department Operating Budget. The estimated FY 2018-19 SLESF allocation of $587,929 was appropriated by the City Council into the Police Operating Budget within the SLESF Fund for FY 2019-20, as part of the annual budget adoption. Since the adoption of the budget, the BPD continued to receive monthly SLESF distributions from the State Department of Finance from the FY 2018-19 allocation totaling $328,932. The cumulative total of funds received from the FY 2018-19 State SLESF allocation is $916,860.
The BPD requests City Council’s approval to appropriate $328,932 into the Police Operating Budget, within the SLESF Fund, to provide for overtime contingency, academy administrative costs, and equipment for front line law enforcement services, including Tasers, and traffic scales.