Southeast Area Drug Enforcement Task Force (SEADE)

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 Gage County and Beatrice City will use their Recovery Act JAG award in the amount of $48,170 to support and assist the Southeast Area Drug Enforcement Task Force (SEADE). Grant funds will be used to fund the salary and benefits of an investigator position with the task force. The task force consists of six counties (Gage, Johnson, Nemaha, Otoe, Pawnee, and Richardson). Their goal is to combat drug activity in the southeastern region of Nebraska. SEADE works cooperatively with many local, state and federal agencies. Many cases involve coordinating efforts across jurisdictional lines. The ability to track suspects from county to county is a major benefit of this task force. Beatrice City and Gage County will provide two full time undercover investigators to gather intelligence, facilitate undercover drug purchases, recruit confidential informants, write and serve warrants, and make arrests.

NCA/NCF