City of Dubuque and Dubuque County 2009 Law Enforcement and Prevention 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 city of Dubuque and Dubuque County are disparate jurisdictions. The city of Dubuque will use Recovery Act JAG funds to provide operating funds for the community based "Dare To Be King" mentoring program. The program is a violence prevention program for African-American males that enhances social and survival skills. The city will also provide funding to support a multi-culturalal family center office for an assigned police officer to work as a liaison for minority outreach and victimized families. The city of Dubuque and Dubuque County will use grant funds to support the overtime salaries of the Dubuque Drug Task Force to continue their efforts in the identification and prosecution of drug distributors, manufacturers, and users. Grant funds will also be used to fund overtime for instructors of the Dubuque Citizen Police Academy where citizens enroll in a thirteen week program to gain a better understanding of police department operations. In addition to these projects, grant funds will be used to purchase a patrol vehicle, provide for the purchase of a police canine as well as the necessary equipment, and for the purchase of enhanced computer software.

NCA/NCF