Chesterfield County Surveillance and Intelligence Improvement Project

This program is funded under both the Edward Byrne Memorial Competitive Grant Program (Byrne Competitive Program) and the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program. Authorized by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2009 (Pub. L. 111-8), the Byrne Competitive Program helps local communities improve the capacity of state and local justice systems and provides for national support efforts including training and technical assistance programs strategically targeted to address local needs. The JAG Program (42 U.S.C. 3751(a)) is the primary provider of federal criminal justice funding to state and local jurisdictions, and JAG funds support all components of the criminal justice system. The JAG Program authorization also states that 'the Attorney General may reserve not more than 5 percent, to be granted to 1 or more States or units of local government, for 1 or more of the purposes specified in section 3751 of this title, pursuant to his determination that the same is necessary'(1) to combat, address, or otherwise respond to precipitous or extraordinary increases in crime, or in a type or types of crime' (42 U.S.C. 3756).

The Intellectual Property Enforcement, Training, and Technical Assistance Program is designed to provide national support and improve the capacity of state and local criminal justice systems to address intellectual property criminal enforcement, including prosecution, prevention, training, and technical assistance.

The county of Chesterfield, through the Chesterfield County Police Department's program, 'Improving Surveillance and Intelligence Gathering Abilities', will enhance the surveillance abilities of the Multi-jurisdictional Special Operations Group's (MSOG) enforcement of counterfeiting crimes. In its two years of operation, the MSOG has thwarted counterfeiting, trademark violations, and money laundering worth millions of dollars. This project will increase MSOG's ability to detect and arrest individuals who violate trademark and service mark infringement; and perform counterfeit merchandise sales, fraudulent activities, money laundering, and other related law violations. MSOG will conduct covert surveillance from a distance and in close proximity, increase the amount of intelligence data available for analysis by the crime analyst, and increase the quality of evidence available to prosecutors in arrest cases.

CA/NCF