FY24 JAG Program for Overtime and Equipment to Support Violent Crime Investigations

Westchester County New York is the eighth largest county in New York State and has a population of approximately 990,427 people. Westchester County borders the City of New York on its southern border, Rockland County on its western border, Putnam County on its northern border and the Long Island Sound on its eastern border. The Westchester County Department of Public Safety (DPS) is a state accredited agency of approximately 295 members who is tasked with patrolling all county property, Westchester’s parkway system, the Towns of Mount Kisco and Cortlandt New York. The Westchester County Police Department is also a support agency for the 41 other municipal police agencies in the county who supports investigations with other agencies.
The disparate jurisdiction of Westchester County will use FY 2024 JAG to fund the Westchester County Police Department narcotics unit as well as support the Yonkers Police Department, the Mount Vernon Police Department, and the New Rochelle Police Department. The Westchester County Police Department intends to utilize approximately $17,886 of JAG funds for Crime Prevention and Enforcement Efforts.
The priority of the Westchester County Police Department for the use of FY 2024 JAG funds is to utilize the funding to support the WCPD’s narcotics unit as well as the General Investigations and Real Time Crime Unit. The Westchester County Police Department intends to utilize approximately $17,886 of the FY 2024 JAG award in overtime costs to coordinate investigations with the narcotics unit, DEA task force as well as the FBI task force to combat the growing Fentanyl and Heroin epidemic as well as other violent crimes within Westchester County. The Westchester County Narcotics unit will work and bolter the efforts of local police agencies including the Cities of Yonkers and Mount Vernon. Westchester DPS has also utilized JAG funding to combat gun violence and other violent crimes.
The City of Yonkers is the third largest city in the state of New York and the largest city in Westchester County, with a population of approximately 200,000. Yonkers borders the borough of the Bronx and located 2 miles north of Manhattan. The Yonkers Police Department has been a New York State Department of Criminal Justice accredited agency since 2003 and reaccredited in 2013. The Yonkers Police Department consists of three Bureaus: Investigations Bureau, including Detective Division, Narcotics Unit and Youth Services Division; Field Services Bureau, including four Patrol Precincts, Emergency Services, and Traffic Division; and Support Services Bureau, including the Detention Services Division and Central Booking, as well as the Courts Unit, Training Division, etc. The Yonkers Police Department’s total Fiscal Year 2024 Operating Budget is $127,343,734.
The City of Yonkers is one of the most densely populated cities in the state. The Saw Mill River Parkway runs north/south down the middle of the city creating a natural east side/west side split. The city’s east side consists predominantly of single-family homes. There is very little gun or non-gun related public-space violence on the city’s east side. Police enforcement in these areas largely concentrates on stolen autos, burglaries, and larcenies from auto. The west side of the city is more densely populated and is home to all three of the City of Yonkers large MHA housing projects. Large apartment buildings/complexes and multi-family homes are also concentrated on the west side. The entire west side of the city is bordered by the Hudson River to the west, Hastings to the north, and the Bronx to the south.
Historically, almost all gun and non-gun related public-space violence occurs on the city’s west side. 57 (90%) of the city’s 63 bullet to body shootings occurring between 2020 and 2022 occurred on the city’s west side. The west side of the city is divided into two precincts (the 3rd and 4th Precincts) with 11 individual sectors. Between the years 2020 – 2022, nine of the 11 west side sectors experienced more than one bullet to body shooting. Two sectors, 303 and 401, accounted for 25 (40%) of the City’s 63 bullet to body shootings over these 3 years. These two sectors border each other and serve as the precinct boundary line in the central section of Yonkers’ west side and encompass Yonkers downtown business district as well as two large housing projects.
The Yonkers Police Department averaged approximately 218 part 1 crimes per month in the year 2020, 194 per month in 2021, 216 per month in 2022, and approximately 267 per month in 2023 (through June 30, 2023). 33 (89%) of the city’s 37 bullet to body shootings occurring between 2021 and 2022 occurred on the city’s west side. Two sectors, 303 and 401, accounted for 16 (43%) of the City’s 37 bullet to body shooting over these 2 years (2021- 2022).
As such, the Yonkers Police Department will use $36,640 in funding for approximately 445 hours of police overtime, particularly those that reduce gun violence, such as high saturation, law enforcement patrols to combat crime, quality of life complaints, and for investigations such as burglary, robbery, auto related crimes and gun tracings. These funds help to keep our response to changing conditions within Yonkers as flexible as possible. This has allowed us to keep levels of violent crime, particularly shootings, relatively low for a city of our size. Flexible scheduling has also allowed us to keep crime problems from simply moving to different neighborhoods.
The city of Mount Vernon will use FY 2024 JAG to fund the Mount Vernon Police Department intends to utilize $28,025 of JAG funds for technology improvements and equipment. Specifically, the Mount Vernon Police Department will utilize those JAG funds to enhance its Body Worn Camera (BWC) Program and purchase an additional body worn cameras to promote public trust, accountability, and transparency.