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.

The city of Kerrville and Kerr County are disparate jurisdictions under the FY 2009 Recovery Act JAG Program. The city will serve as the fiscal agent for both jurisdictions. JAG funds will be utilized for communication and information technology upgrade projects.

The city of Kerrville Police Department will procure mobile computers for its patrol units. These units will drastically enhance patrol officer capabilities in the areas of in-car field reporting and entry of offense reports, information and database access by field units, unit-to-unit messaging to enhance information sharing in a secure environment, and access to crime analysis information specific to trends in assigned sectors.

Kerr County will procure additional digital compliant hand-held and mobile radios to enhance interoperability with other law enforcement agencies (within the county) that are switching to a digital radio signal. Recovery JAG funding will allow the department to purchase portable radios with remote speaker microphones.

NCA/NCF