FY 2009 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.

Kern County will allocate the Fiscal Year 2009 Recovery Act JAG award equally to four departments: District Attorney, Public Defender, Probation, and Sheriff. The District Attorney proposes to retain two Deputy District Attorney positions in the Gang Prosecution Unit. The Public Defender proposes to retain one full-time Deputy Public Defender position and partially fund one other attorney position. The Probation Department will use funding to retain a Deputy Probation Officer III position and for the acquisition of one drug detection canine. The Sheriff's Department proposes to purchase 20 encrypted digital radios. The Sheriff's Department will also acquire 56 tasers, as well as purchase a software application for the County's Criminal Justice Information System to provide the ability to interface with different criminal databases.

NCA/NCF