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  Grant Will Provide $435,200 In Bonuses To The 61 Officers Of The Boardman Police Department  
  ‘Boardman Township has not been immune to the effects of the national increases in violent crime....Violence in the community has increased since the pandemic began’:   August 25, 2022 Edition  
     BY JOHN A. DARNELL JR.
      associate editor
      The Boardman Police Department has received a $628,358.56 grant from the Ohio Violent Crime Reduction Grant Program, Gov. Mike DeWine announced last week.
      The bulk of the funding, some $435,200 is set aside for “retention bonuses” for the 61-member Boardman Police Department and the staff of 15 persons who work in the township’s dispatching department. The bonuses will be paid of over a two-year period and range from a $3,500 yearly bonus to senior members of the department to $2,000 for lesser-serving officers. The township’s dispatchers will receive yearly bonuses between $2,400 annually to $1,500 annually depending on their term of service.
      Earlier this year, Trustees Brad Calhound, Larry Moliterno and Tom Costello approved bonues of $1,250 for all township employee, using funds provided by the American Rescue Act.
      Additionally, $36,000 is designated for law enforcement hiring bonuses for 12 new police officers, according to the grant application provided to The Boardman News by the Ohio Department of Public Safety.
      Another $137,158 is ear-marked for two, new police officers, and $20,000 is directed for a video recording system that will update the department’s current system.
      Governor DeWine, in partnership with the Ohio General Assembly, created the Ohio Violent Crime Reduction Grant Program to give local law enforcement additional tools to address violence, including increases in crime associated with law enforcement retirements and resignations.
      The program is funded through both the state operating budget and with American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds dedicated to first responders to counter various pressing issues exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, including violent crime. The grant announced last week is funded through ARPA.
      According to the grant application, violence in the Boardman community has increased since the pandemic began.
      “Boardman Township has not been immune to the effects of the national increases in violent crime.
      “During the COVID-19 pandemic, our jurisdiction experienced an increase in violent crimes similar to what has occurred nationally.
      “Specifically in Boardman Township, felonious assaults have increased 33% from 2019 to 2020; rape was up 28% from 2019 to 2021; robberies increased 17% from 2019 to 2020; and aggravated burglaries increased 85% from 2019 to 2021,” says the grant application.
      Additionally, the application notes “Boardman, like so many other communities, has had its share of difficulties during the pandemic.
      “From 2019 to 2021, there was a nearly 200% increase in the amount of drug overdoses and a nearly 400% increase in overdose deaths in
      Boardman Township.
      “The increase of illicit drug activity with the resulting increase in overdoses during the pandemic has had a direct impact on [the Boardman] community and safety services resources.”
      Lead author of the grant was longtime Boardman policeman, Lt. John Allsopp.
      Narrative
      A narrative provided within the grant application, says the following-----
      “As in many parts of the country, the coronavirus pandemic has had multiple adverse impacts on our local community in Boardman Township, Ohio. The Boardman Police Department’s ability to safely complete our stated mission and also keep our officers and employees safe and well has been made increasingly difficult. In addition to the daily requirements of responding to calls for service, conducting proactive enforcement operations, training and administrative tasks, we have had to put into place many measures to mitigate the risks that the pandemic posed. This has increased the level of stress on our employees and adversely impacted on our ability to adequately address violent crime in a proactive manner. To compound this problem, the nation has seen the rate of aggravated assaults increase nearly 12% between 2019 and 2020, with a stated increase in overall violent crime increasing in the country of over 5%. “As our crime statistics have shown, Boardman is certainly not immune to the effects of these national increases in violent crime. Boardman Township...is a suburb directly south of the city of Youngstown. The target population that will immediately benefit from this Violence Reduction (including the purchase of vital technology and equipment) and retention bonuses, incentives, and activities initiative are not just the 40,889 (2010 census data) residents of Boardman Township, that as the economic hub of Mahoning County, is estimated by traffic studies to have a daily service population of approximately 100,000 between the hours of 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.
      “The most recent data available for the demographics of Boardman Township reveal ...9.9% of Boardman Township residents live in
      poverty.
      “To the north and west of Boardman Township, is a direct boundary with Youngstown, which has approximately 66,500 residents...Some 38% of the population lives below the poverty line, the third highest poverty rate among U.S. cities.
      “Youngstown is also the only U.S. city where more than half of all households earn less than $25,000 a year. The low incomes are reflected in the city’s low property values. The typical home in Youngstown is worth just $43,300, less than a quarter of the national median home value of $205,000.
      “Like many poor cities, crime rates are high in Youngstown. There were 3,780 property crimes for every 100,000 city residents in 2016, well above the national property crime rate of 2,451 per 100,000.
      “Again, as the major retail and shopping hub of the area, many Youngstown residents travel to Boardman Township.
      “Proactively addressing violent crime is not only a focus and absolute necessity for Boardman Township, but also as it directly impacts the well-being of our surrounding communities as well.
      “The increase in overdoses and overdose deaths...is compounded as that activity is closely associated with other related conduct to include both crimes of violence and property crimes in [Boardman].
      One area of note which will be a focus using any resources obtained through this grant is the identifying, developing investigations, and disrupting instances of human trafficking (prostitution). Boardman has five motels and six hotels concentrated in two areas of the township.
      “To address the general instances of violent crime, to include specifically targeting human trafficking (prostitution), we will utilize this grant funding to expand a marked patrol presence, along with initiating an unmarked presence
      in identified problem areas.
      “In addition to increased enforcement, we will leverage existing relationships with non-governmental agencies to identify and link victims of human trafficking to services .
      “Some specific objectives [the Boardman Police Department] would like to achieve are overall, reduce the percentages of all violent crime in all listed areas where we had an increase from 2019. Specifically, reduce robberies and aggravated burglaries by 5% in 2022 and an additional 10% each in 2023---Achieved through additional targeted patrols, funded through this grant, in neighborhood and business districts identified as having high instances of these crimes. These patrols will also facilitate a quicker response to other instances of violent crime which will positively impact deterrence and the likelihood of initiating arrests at the scene of these occurrences.
      “[The Boardman Police Department] would want to proactively initiate seven new investigations into human trafficking (prostitution) instances in 2022, and an additional thirteen in 2023, with the objective of identifying and pursuing an investigation into instances focusing on tying them to individuals or groups perpetrating human trafficking (prostitution) operations in [Boardman] and surrounding communities.
      “Being freed from responding to calls for service, the additional targeted patrols will focus on officer interaction with the public in the affected areas. We will further work with community-based organizations to facilitate identifying and linking victims of violent crime to available services, including the Coalition for a Drug-Free Mahoning County, the Mahoning County Mental Health and Recovery Board, and Compass Family and Community Services that offers support for domestic abuse , sexual assault, and other victims of violent crime.
      “With the added focused patrols, we will have the ability and time to interact, respond, and meet with community block watch programs and business associations to foster relationships to better address and respond to violent crimes.
      “In May 2021, the U.S Treasury Department announced the State of Ohio would receive aid as part of President Biden’s coronavirus relief package. However, after issues arose about including Ohio townships in this funding, it was determined that Boardman would get just over $4 million over two years.
      “...To put it in further perspective, the city of Youngstown is set to receive approximately $82.7 million in funding through American Rescue Plan Funding.
      “That money obviously goes directly to issues within the city of Youngstown, while again a significant number of their residents work and visit Boardman on a daily basis. This grant gives Boardman the ability to proactively address and reduce violent crime for the residents of several area communities to include the citizens of the of Youngstown and other surrounding areas.”
      The grant application notes that “The population that is going to served will be both residents of Boardman and also the surrounding communities which rely heavily on [Boardman Township] for important services to include medical care, groceries, jobs, and other important necessities,
      “The planned initiative in the two hotel/motel districts [in Boardman] will be focused to identify and intercede with the most vulnerable victims from both the extended Youngstown metropolitan area and those traveling interstate.
      “One concentration of motels in Boardman is adjacent to Youngstown, with the hotels in another section being adjacent to and frequented by those traveling along an interstate highway cutting through [Boardman].
      Each area is prone to instances of human trafficking (prostitution), drug activity, and other violent crime that this grant provides an opportunity to specifically and consistently address, while still maintaining the ability to address calls for service and a proactive presence necessitated by the issues aggravated by the pandemic.
      “...The total target population including Boardman Township that could potentially benefit from this violence reduction initiative could very well impact an area up to 3,479 square miles and serves 909,522 residents (2010 census data).
      Bonus for Police and Dispatchers
      According to the grant application, “In setting goals and priorities to reduce violent crime in the community, which has been exasperated by the pandemic, we are additionally cognizant of the impact that reduced hiring and retention issues have and the challenges that they present in addressing violence in Boardman. The Boardman Police Department (BPD) has recently lost a multitude of police officers and other employees, who have left the agency for higher paying jobs.
      “A focus of the request for grant funding is to increase staffing presence that address specifically the victims of violent crime.
      ‘Retention incentives/bonuses can only be paid if there is a likelihood of the employees leaving without the incentives/bonuses.
      “Since January 2020, the BPD has lost at least 11 employees, with several more expected in the near future. These losses can be attributed to the increased stress of the job during the pandemic and the increasingly competitive job market in the country. The frequency of these losses has affected over 10% of our work force so far and is expected to continue and likely increase.
      “The high turnover of experienced trained law enforcement personnel directly impacts on our ability to both reactively and proactively respond to violent crime in our community. If unabated, it will result in increasing instances of crime, an inability to investigate and disrupt the most egregious repeat offenders, and an inability to focus on better assisting victims of crime. An incentive bonus program, as allowed for in this grant, has an immediate direct positive impact on our ability to retain valued personnel and immediately effects our ability to address violent crime issues.”
     
 
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