Advancing Evidence Collection Systems & Addressing Officer Safety 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 consisting of the city of Parsons and Labette County will use their Recovery Act JAG award in the amount of $54,050 to increase public safety and add more detailed security. The city of Parsons, serving as the fiscal agent, will use $32,430 to purchase six Forward Looking Infared Systems (FLIR), one flash sight, two Pentax D200 digital cameras, one undercover body pack recorder, one radio antenna, and four digital voice recorders. These purchases will allow the city to enhance the quality of crime scene photos and voice recording as well as decrease the annual cost of operation and man hours for processing. Labette County will use $21,620 to install new patrol vehicle video systems that will add an extra level of security to both the public and the officers.

NCA/NCF