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 Orange will use its Fiscal Year 2009 Recovery Act JAG award in the amount of $99,075 for the Orange Police Department to purchase firearms, accessories, ammunition, equipment, computer workstations, upgrade and repair the computer system, and replace broken hardware. The police department will purchase 14 digital portable radios and software. The department will then have the ability to communicate with other radio systems in the area, including two bordering counties, as well as agencies in their neighboring state.

The department will purchase fifteen Colt AR-15 Tactical Carbine Rifles and twelve Remington Model 870 Shotguns with the accessories and ammunition. They will also purchase and maintain their computer system, replace workstations, and repair and replace broken computer hardware. The purchase of five computer workstations to replace the outdated inventory and fifteen 1 gig network cards for computers will help the department to maintain the high standards of collecting data and sharing information with other law enforcement agencies in their region as well as state and federal agencies.

NCA/NCF