Westfield City Recovery Act JAG 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 Westfield will use the Recovery Act JAG funds to create two specialized enforcement units and four new positions within the Westfield Police Department (WPD.) The new traffic enforcement unit will provide a substantial increase in dedicated traffic enforcement efforts, measured through the WPD's computer-aided dispatch and information database (OSSI.) The increased enforcement effort will lower the number of traffic-related crashes due to extreme speed and/or major traffic violations by creating an environment in which drivers feel that there is a high risk that such violations will be caught and prosecuted. Assisting the creation of the Westfield Police Department E.S.U. operator positions will provide a level of Emergency Preparedness never before seen in the City of Westfield, Indiana. This will provide the Westfield Police Department with tools necessary to combat Dangerous, Strategic, and Complex incidents. The E.S.U. team will provide equipment,
proficiency, professionalism, and training needed to successfully deal with those incidents.

NCA/NCF