Fitchburg City 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 Fitchburg will utilize funds to support the Fitchburg Police Department's (FPD) Reducing Crimes through Data Linkages Project. FPD will hire a full-time crime analyst and purchase police vehicles. The crime analysis position is the foundation for planning and organizational change, improvements, and assessment of technical and equipment needs of FPD. The position will contribute to exploring new, more creative, and potentially more effective methods of implementing police functions. The crime analyst will also increase FPD Police Officer productivity and effectiveness. The position will identify risks in the community, track repeat victimization, identify criminal activities, conduct case control studies, review criminal offenders associations, identify crime facilitators, conduct a process evaluation, and recommend solutions to line staff and sworn personnel. The new police vehicles will enhance current FPD operations.

NCA/NCF