§ 846-C — Contracts with companies

§ 846-c. Contracts with companies. 1. The commissioner may enter into\ncontracts, either on his own initiative, or upon application of a\ncompany or the municipality having jurisdiction over such company, for\nthe performance of company activities. Such contracts shall be entered\ninto, however, only after appropriate findings by the commissioner,\nsubject to the limitations hereinafter set forth.\n 2. Prior to entering into, renewing, extending or replacing a contract\nwith a company, the commissioner shall have made a finding that said\ncompany which proposes to contract with the commissioner is a bona fide\norganization which shall have been in existence for at least one full\nyear within a three year period immediately prior to application for\nfunding. Its existence shall have been as a corporation or an\nunincorporated, organized group which has demonstrated by its activities\nthat it has the ability to establish and maintain tenant-lobby,\nstreet-foot patrols, or auto patrols or other approved activities in the\nproposed neighborhood. The commissioner shall also find that the\nactivities proposed are needed by the neighborhood and that the proposed\nactivities utilize resident involvement to the fullest extent possible.\nA finding shall also be made as to the ability of the company to acquire\nor gain access to the requisite staff, office facilities, and expertise\nto enable it to perform the activities which it proposes to undertake\npursuant to said contract.\n 3. a. In determining whether to enter into, renew, extend or replace a\ncontract with a company pursuant to this article, the commissioner shall\ninvestigate, to the extent deemed necessary or appropriate, and\nestablish that:\n (i) the geographic boundaries proposed by the applicant for such a\ncontract define a recognized or established neighborhood or area within\nthe municipality;\n (ii) the activities proposed by the company are reasonably calculated\nto have a generally positive effect on the prevention of crime and on\nthe reduction of the fear of crime within the neighborhood and are\ndesigned to provide additional and particular focus when necessary to\naddress the needs of senior citizens with respect thereto;\n (iii) the presence of the company within the neighborhood has not\nresulted in and will not result in a decrease in the crime prevention\nactivities performed by existing police agencies in such neighborhood;\n (iv) the company has coordinated and will continue to coordinate its\nactivities with existing police agencies;\n (v) the company's officers, directors and members represent the\nresidents and the legitimate interests of the neighborhood, and they\nwill carry out such a contract in a responsible manner;\n (vi) a majority of the directors of the company are residents of the\nneighborhood;\n (vii) the plan submitted by the company demonstrates that the company\nwill recruit and utilize neighborhood volunteers and will, to the extent\npossible, acquire loaned or donated equipment for the performance of its\nactivities;\n (viii) the commissioner shall also find that the plan submitted by the\ncompany demonstrates that such company when hiring employees will give\npriority, to the extent possible, to residents of the neighborhood who\nare either unemployed or not fully employed.\n b. Nothing contained within the contract shall impose liability upon\nthe division or the community for injury incurred during the performance\nof any approved activities.\n 4. Contracts entered into hereunder with companies shall be limited in\nduration to periods of one year, but may thereafter be renewed,\nextended, or succeeded by new contracts from year to year in the\ndiscretion of the commissioner for up to an aggregate of four additional\nyears. Contract awards shall be limited in amount to the sum of sixty\nthousand dollars in a single year. Each company shall also define with\nparticularity the neighborhood or portion thereof within which the\ncompany's activities shall be performed under such contract. The\ncontract shall also set forth the company's obligations to provide\ntraining in approved crime prevention techniques, and in community\nrelations, to those who shall perform crime prevention activities for\nthe company.\n 5. Every such contract shall provide that the company shall maintain\nbooks, records and accounts deemed appropriate and open to review by the\ncommissioner and that such accounts shall be currently maintained in\nconformance with generally accepted accounting principles and practices.\n 6. Nothing within this article shall preclude a municipality from\napplying to or contracting with the commissioner on behalf of qualifying\nauxiliary police services.\n