Recovery Act JAG Program

This grant program is authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5) (the 'Recovery Act') and by 42 U.S.C. 3751(a). The stated purposes of the Recovery Act are: to preserve and create jobs and promote economic recovery; to assist those most impacted by the recession; to provide investments needed to increase economic efficiency by spurring technological advances in science and health; to invest in transportation, environmental protection, and other infrastructure that will provide long-term economic benefits; and to stabilize state and local government budgets, in order to minimize and avoid reductions in essential services and counterproductive state and local tax increases. The Recovery Act places great emphasis on accountability and transparency in the use of taxpayer dollars.

Among other things, it creates a new Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board and a new website ' Recovery.gov ' to provide information to the public, including access to detailed information on grants and contracts made with Recovery Act funds.

The Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program funded under the Recovery Act is the primary provider of federal criminal justice funding to state and local jurisdictions. Recovery JAG funds support all components of the criminal justice system, from multi-jurisdictional drug and gang task forces to crime prevention and domestic violence programs, courts, corrections, treatment, and justice information sharing initiatives. Recovery JAG funded projects may address crime through the provision of services directly to individuals and/or communities and by improving the effectiveness and efficiency of criminal justice systems, processes, and procedures.

The city of New Britain will use the Recovery Act JAG funds to create jobs, strategically support overtime for crucial police operations, and purchase police equipment. The city's police department will fund grant administrative activities to appropriately monitor how the grant funds are used. The city will fund the Police Athletic League's (PAL's) director position for two years. PAL operates with volunteer police officers and citizens. PAL provides diversion activities for neighborhood youth involvement in positive community-based activities. The city will fund overtime and purchase equipment that will support key police department crime prevention activities. The police department will use overtime funds to support warrant squad and community policing activities. The warrant squad will increase the apprehension of wanted criminals. The police department will also use personnel expenses to fund community policing activities such as attending community meetings, organizing activities, leading safety and cleanup programs, and assisting with special neighborhood sponsored community social events. The equipment purchases will include police motor cycles, police in-car video systems, a security camera for use at dump sites, and police vehicle thermal printers.

NCA/NCF