Community Law Enforcement and Recovery (CLEAR) Program- Foothill, Newton, Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest

The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program (JAG) allows states, tribes, and local governments to support a broad range of activities to prevent and control crime based on their own local needs and conditions. Grant funds can be used for state and local initiatives, technical assistance, training, personnel, equipment, supplies, contractual support, and information systems for criminal justice for any one or more of the following purpose areas: 1) law enforcement programs; 2) prosecution and court programs; 3) prevention and education programs; 4) corrections and community corrections programs; 5) drug treatment programs; 6) planning, evaluation, and technology improvement programs; and 7) crime victim and witness programs (other than compensation).

The disparate jurisdiction consisting of Los Angeles County and the City of Los Angeles will use their Fiscal Year 2008 Local JAG funds to support initiatives that encompass the programmatic purpose areas of law enforcement, prosecution, probation, corrections, prevention, and education.

The fiscal agent, the city of Los Angeles, will use $790,333 to support personnel positions for the Community Law Enforcement and Recovery (CLEAR) program in the Foothill, Newton, Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest areas of Los Angeles. The overall goal of CLEAR is to facilitate the recovery of gang-infested communities through a comprehensive program that removes hard-core gang members from the streets. CLEAR serves as the suppression component of the Mayor's Gang Reduction Strategy (GRP), a comprehensive plan to coordinate services and infuse prevention, intervention, re-entry, and suppression services in gang-infested communities. The CLEAR Team includes the Los Angeles Police Department, County Probation Department, City Attorney's Office, County District Attorney's Office, California Department of Corrections & Parole, Mayor's Office, City Council and County Supervisory Offices, and community stakeholders.

Los Angeles County will use $701,394 to support personnel positions for the following: Crime Reduction and Public Safety Improvement Initiative, Strategies Against Gang Environments (SAGE) program, the Special Enforcement Unit (SEU), and the Abolish Child Truancy (ACT) program, in addition to its support of the CLEAR program. The goal of the Crime Reduction and Public Safety Improvement Initiative is to reduce crime and improve public safety. This is done through vertical gang prosecution programs that will suppress organized criminal gang behavior and control the impact of gangs on this community, as well as the management of probationers in order to prevent new crimes. The SAGE program abates street gang violence and narcotic-related activities by utilizing civil injunctions and other procedures deemed appropriate by local law enforcement authorities. The program provides collaborative efforts among the Los Angeles County District Attorney, County Sheriff, and the City of Los Angeles Police Department to suppress gang activities in targeted areas. The SEU combines the efforts of the County Probation Department and the City of Los Angeles Police Department in order to focus on gang suppression in targeted areas. The ACT program was developed to prevent juvenile delinquency and future adult criminality by breaking the cycle of poor school attendance and returning truant children to the school room rather than the courtroom. ACT is a parental responsibility-based truancy reduction program that works directly with elementary schools to identify children with problem attendance, and provides supportive assistance to families in an effort to correct school attendance problems before juvenile court action becomes necessary.

NCA/NCF