Stop The Offenders Program

The Edward Byrne Memorial Discretionary Grants Program (Byrne Discretionary Program) helps local communities improve the capacity of local justice systems and provides for national support efforts. This project is authorized and funded through a line item in the FY 08 Congressional Budget. Funds should be used for purposes recommended by Congress.

The County of Johnson will disrupt criminals and dismantle criminal enterprises through undercover operations, covert surveillance, and overt interdiction operations. The Stop the Offender Program is a cooperative law enforcement effort among the Johnson County Sheriff's Office, Cleburne Police Department, Cleburne Marshal's Office, Burleson Police Department, Joshua Police Department, and Alvarado Police Department. The Johnson County Sheriff's Office, Special Crimes Unit will emphasize on investigating organized criminal activity with a focus on narcotics trafficking and terrorism issues. The population served is the citizens who reside within the geographical boundaries of Johnson County and Tarrant County. They will utilize three methods to disrupt criminal enterprises and criminal activities: (1) disrupt the distribution of narcotics by use of undercover operations; officers will also be responsible for seeking out, locating, and coordinating disposal of meth labs; (2) coordinate efforts of all area law enforcement, as it relates to narcotics enforcement and the investigation of terrorism; and (3) detect and disrupt the mobility of the criminal element via highway interdiction operations (use of uniformed peace officers in marked patrol vehicles to detect criminal activities on highways and roadways). The applicant also intends to use approxiamtely $30,000 in grant funds for undercover purchases. The law enforcement agencies participating in the grant believe the use of undercover/confidential funds is an invaluable tool for gathering information from informants and making deals with street level dealers.

NCA/CF