Individual Officer Emergency Response 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.

Union City will use its Recovery Act JAG funds to support their Individual Officer Emergency Response Program. The Union Police Department created the program in 2007 in response to the active shooting situations around the country. The administrative, training, and coordination aspects have been implemented and are currently being conducted, the only lacking element is the necessary response equipment. To address this, the department will acquire 9 AR-15 platform patrol rifles, detachable light source mounts, tactical response vests which will carry additional magazines, ammunition, and trauma kits to aid officers and civilians injured in a potential active shooter situation. The remaining funds will be utilized to acquire conversion kits to allow weapons to be converted and used for simulated force-on-force training in order to provide realistic scenarios for officers on how to safely respond to active shooting situations. This equipment will benefit many aspects of the department and the community as a whole, as it will provide a response component that is currently only available on a limited basis.

NCA/NCF