Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2009, $300,000)
The Congressionally Selected Awards Program, authorized by the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009 (Pub. L. 111-8), helps improve the functioning of the criminal justice system, prevent or combat juvenile delinquency, and/or assist victims of crime (other than compensation). Funds should be used for the projects selected by Congress, in the amounts specified in the joint explanatory statement incorporated by reference into Pub. L. 111-8, and generally consistent with one or more of the following statutory purposes: improving the functioning of the criminal justice system, preventing or combating juvenile delinquency, or assisting victims of crime (other than compensation). Each of these purposes is framed using language drawn, respectively, from the former Byrne discretionary statute, the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, the Victims of Crime Act, and the Violence Against Women Act. This project is authorized and funded through a line item in the FY 09 Congressional Budget and by the joint explanatory statement that is incorporated by reference into the FY09 Omnibus Appropriations Act.
Like many counties in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, York has struggled to coordinate shared resources for law enforcement to achieve cost efficiency and maximum impact in the reduction of violent crime. The City of York will use their 2009 Congressionally Selected Awards funds to establish the Quick Response Team (QRT). This is one of the first steps in a process to ensure that the County's resources are targeted and allocated for the maximum impact. When the QRT team is deployed in serving a high-risk warrant, for example, or responding to a hostage situation, there are no systems in place to coordinate information sharing and data interoperability among QRT field operatives. For that reason, the City of York and the county have sought out new technologies that promote officer safety and better resource coordination.
DragonForce is the software package selected. DragonForce is a situation awareness software package that can be installed on cell phones, ruggedized PDAs, and laptop computers to provide access to a "common operating picture," and includes GPS tracking of officers, text messaging, whiteboarding and annotation, all within a secure network environment. The main program objective will be to deliver a customized version of the DragonForce platform to meet the specifications and requirements of the York County QRT.
NCA/NCF