Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2009, $32,862)
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 Stephenville and Erath County are listed as disparate jurisdictions on the FY 2009 JAG Recovery local allocation chart. The city will serve as the fiscal agent to administer the JAG Recovery funds for both jurisdictions. Each entity will utilize grant funds to procure law enforcement equipment to enhance communication capabilities.
The City of Stephenville Police Department will utilize its portion of JAG Recovery funds to procure portable radios with accompanying accessories that will be Project 25 compliant (per federal inter-operability requirements). The current systems used by responding agencies are not compatible with other responding agencies. In order to be compliant, the department will procure 17 [Project 25] radios with remote speakers. These radio systems are more reliable and will help increase public safety by allowing entities that normally do not coordinate with each other to have more efficient means of communication.
The Erath County Sheriff's Office will procure covert devices to increase criminal conviction rates. Said devices will help produce recorded court-admissible evidence of crime elements. This state-of-the-art technology will allow deputies to record various criminal communications with remote audio/video protection.
NCA/NCF