Upgrades to Sheriff's Dispatch and Upgrades to the City of Florence K-9 Unit and Downtown Security

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 Lauderdale Commission will use the Recovery Act JAG funds for upgrades to the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department's dispatch and to the City of Florence K-9 unit and downtown security. Lauderdale County and the city of Florence are disparate jurisdictions and will split the funds to meet the following project goals: (1) to provide greater efficiency in law enforcement by upgrading county dispatch to a computer assisted dispatch(CAD)system; (2) to preserve up to five county jobs by keeping dispatch in-house; (3) to provide greater security in the downtown area of Florence; and (4) to enhance the City of Florence K-9 Unit with training and equipment.

Lauderdale County owns a site license for I/Dispatcher currently being used in the Lauderdale County EMA/911 Departments. This project will provide for a no cost provision of the I/Dispatcher Licenses (software) as a part of this system utilizing the network, servers, and infrastructure of the County. The city of Florence Police Department under the Interlocal Agreement, will use their portion of the JAG grant funding to purchase a video camera security system to use in the Downtown area of Florence. Moreover, the funds will be used to improve and expand the Canine Unit with training, equipment and the purchase of two additional canines.

NCA/NCF