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.

The disparate jurisdictions consisting of Multnomah County and the cities of Fairview, Gresham, Portland, and Troutdale will use their Fiscal Year 2009 Recovery Act JAG award in the amount of $3,801,887 to support personnel; equipment purchases; and multi-agency, multi-disciplinary programs across the county. The city of Portland, serving as the fiscal agent, will use their portion to create or preserve 3.5 full-time positions by funding a gang outreach and intervention program; upgrade the Portland Police Database System (PPDS) and hire two full-time management analyst positions; and fund ongoing prostitution outreach and intervention services. Multnomah County will use their funds to hire or retain the following: three deputy district attorney positions to handle gang prosecutions, domestic violence, and prostitution outreach and intervention services; one full-time community justice manager position and one parole and probation officer position assigned to the Northwest Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory (NWRCFL); one deputy sheriff to support the Child Abuse Team; and one corrections deputy sheriff to serve in the Metropolitan Gang Enforcement Division (MGED). The city of Gresham will use their share to retain one full-time police records specialist and purchase equipment and supplies for the department, including uniforms, equipment, and overtime costs for eight police officers. The cities of Fairview and Troutdale will use their allocations to create crime analyst positions to serve both cities' police departments. This will allow both departments to analyze crime patterns and trends, increase deployment efficiency, and strengthen community policing relationships.

NCA/NCF