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.

Erie County and the cities of Buffalo, Depew Village, Kenmore Village, Lackawanna, Tonawanda, Amherst, Cheektowaga, Evans, Orchard Park, Tonawanda Town, and West Seneca will use the Fiscal Year 2009 Recovery Act JAG award in the amount of $2,616,421 to support multiple law enforcement initiatives. Specifically, the city of Buffalo will use its share to hire police surveillance camera monitors and two specialized prosecutors in the County's District Attorney's Office and support a reentry program, an enhanced curfew patrol, and a youth violence reduction initiative. Erie County will use its portion to hire a programmer to enhance the security of its computer-aided dispatch and records management system. The town of Amherst will apply their allocation towards police officer overtime, digital in-car video systems, and radios. The town of Cheektowaga police will apply its share towards video recording systems and officer overtime. The village of Depew Police Department will retrofit the existing ventilation system in its firing range to reduce the dangers of lead contamination and meet state health codes, and replace mobile data terminals. The town of Evans will use their portion to upgrade their communication system by purchasing a specialized receiver, repeater, and portable radios. The village of Kenmore purchase Taser cartridges and install security cameras. The city of Lackawanna Police Department will fund officer overtime and an identification card system. The town of Orchard Park will use their share to purchase recording equipment for surveillance cameras. The city of Tonawanda police will purchase patrol rifles and upgrade its communications system. The town of Tonawanda will purchase patrol bat shields, patrol bicycles, equipment, and fund officer training for the Bicycle Patrol Unit. The town of West Seneca will use its share to pay overtime for officers conducting the citizen police academy and bike patrol. For purposes of grant administration, the city of Buffalo has been designated as the fiscal agent for this award.

NCA/NCF