FY 2009 Justice Assistance Grant Program

The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program (JAG) allows states and units of local governments, including tribes, to support a broad range of activities to prevent and control crime based on their own state and 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, including 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 and enforcement programs; 6) planning, evaluation, and technology improvement programs; and 7) crime victim and witness programs (other than compensation).

Jackson County, through the Jackson County Sheriff's Office, will use its Fiscal Year 2009 JAG award in the amount of $10,996 to purchase counter-drug equipment used to aide in the fight against methamphetamine and marijuana. Due to the rural location of Jackson County in the Appalachian Mountains of Western North Carolina, methamphetamine laboratory cooks and marijuana growers frequently use the wilderness as an effective means to cover and conceal their operations away from law enforcement. In efforts to combat this drug problem, law enforcement is often required to enter the wilderness utilizing off-road patrol vehicles. These patrol vehicles are specialized for the rugged terrain that lies in the Appalachian Mountains. Without these useful and specialized patrol vehicles, the remote portions of our County where illicit drugs are grown and manufactured are inaccessible to law enforcement.

NCA/NCF