Every year Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and U.S. Department of Justice (Bureau of Justice Assistance) announce an open application process for state and local law enforcement agencies to apply for recurring grants such as STEP Grants and Bulletproof Vest Grants.

Bulletproof Vest Partnership (BVP) is a unique U.S. Department of Justice initiative designed to provide a critical resource to state and local law enforcement for the purchase of armored vests that are in compliance with the National Institute of Justice vest standards to protect the lives of law enforcement officers. Since 1999, the BVP program has awarded more than 13,000 jurisdictions a total of $522 million in federal funds for the purchase of over one million vests (1,395,976). BPV Grant is a two-year long grant that provides up to 50% reimbursement of the body armor cost.

STEP Grants afford local law enforcement agencies the opportunity to receive reimbursement of overtime costs associated with traffic enforcement designed to reduce motor vehicle crashes, injuries and fatalities in the State of Texas. The STEP Grants have an 80/20 match requirement. Officers conducting enforcement on a STEP-COMP grant will make enforcement of Impaired Driving, Occupant Protection, Speed, Intersection Traffic Control, and Distracted Driving their top priority during enforcement, although any traffic-related probable cause may be used to initiate a vehicle stop. The purpose of the Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) grant is to reduce commercial motor vehicle crashes, injuries and fatalities involving vehicles with a vehicle body type of “Semi-Trailer” or “Truck-Tractor”. STEP-COMP and STEP CMV are year-long grants. The Impaired Driving Mobilization (IDM) grant is mainly focused on impaired drivers during mobilization periods (Christmas New Year, Spring Break, Independence Day, and Labor Day). The Click it or Ticket grant enforcement is mainly focused on seatbelt violations during mobilization periods (Memorial Day and/or Thanksgiving).

The City of Sugar Land has applied, been awarded, and administered these grants for many years. The Police Department follows the City Grant Pre-approval process to obtain the City Management approval before applying for each individual grant.

The Sugar Land Police Department recommends that the City Council authorize the submission of grant applications to the State of Texas for the STEP Grants and to the U.S. Department of Justice for Bulletproof Vest Grant during the Fiscal Year 2023.

Once awarded, Grants will be brought to the City Council for acceptance.