City of Denham Springs Crackdown

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 Denham Springs, through the Denham Springs Police Department will use Recovery Act JAG funds to purchase law enforcement patrol vehicles in order to replace older vehicles in their fleet. The Denham Springs Police Department has eight vehicles that are six to eight years old with mileage ranging from 100,000-140,000 miles. The police department will purchase two new police cruisers through the Recovery Act JAG Program. The vehicles will be used to patrol high crime areas and implement community policing activities. Additionally, this initiative will have a positive economic impact upon several businesses within the City of Denham Springs to include local car dealerships and companies that will provide law enforcement related equipment that will be installed in the vehicles.

NCA/NCF