Multi-Jurisdictional Equipment and Technology Project

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 disparate jurisdictions of the cities of LaGrange, Hogansville, and West Point and the county of Troup will use the Fiscal Year 2009 Recovery Act JAG award for the Multi-Jurisdictional Equipment and Technology Supplementation Project to enhance the law enforcement capabilities of the disparate juridictions. The city of LaGranage will be the fiscal agent for the applications. The goal of the project will be to proactively reduce reported criminal activity by incorporating technology into the daily operations of local law enforcement. The intended result is to greatly reduce the amount of time needed to be spent completing administrative tasks and will also heighten the level of professionalism of each department. Troup County will use their portion of grant funds to address radio communication challenges by upgrading to an 800 MHz system. The city of LaGrange will use their allocation to expand their current electronic field reporting process in order to manage time and resources more effectively. The city of Hogansville will purchase a Live Scan Fingerprint System into their current booking process which will require significantly less manpower to operate thus creating more time for proactive police work to be conducted. The city of West Point will use their portion of funds to upgrade their patrol vehicle video camera systems that have become dated and unserviceable.

NCA/NCF