FY 2009 Recovery Act Justice Assistance Grant 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.

Charles County will use its Fiscal Year 2009 Recovery Act JAG award to boost its crime reduction and prevention strategy. Funds will be used by the Charles County Sheriff's Office to hire a full-time Intelligence Specialist to work on criminal and gang investigations with an emphasis on breaking the Spanish language and cultural barriers. Some of the job duties include creating and maintaining intelligence files, providing Spanish translation when needed, providing assistance to Fusion Centers, coordinating and providing specialized training, investigating and/or assisting with criminal investigations suspected of having a gang nexus, gathering and disseminating information regarding organized criminal activity and gang trends, and conducting follow-up investigations to solve criminal cases. This person will have expertise in this area and will provide training to law enforcement personnel as well. The main goal of this program is to close more criminal and gang cases in a more timely fashion. The sheriff's office will also purchase an unmarked police car for the new position, laptop, color printer, and portable radio.

NCA/NCF