Keeping Officers on the Streets

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 Norwich, along with the Norwich Connecticut Police Department (NCPD), will utilize funds to support keeping officers on the street. The primary goal is to maintain three of the six police officer positions not being funded in the fiscal year 2010 budget. NCPD will utilize funding to maintain three police officer positions for one year. The retention of three officer positions will allow NCPD the flexibility to selectively and creatively maintain other valuable programs such as the Domestic Violence Victim Advocate program, Law Enforcement program, Critical Incident Team, Drug Abuse Resistance Education Program, and Student Resource Officer programs. In addition, the retention of police officers will allow NCPD to continue dedicating resources to implementing Community-Oriented Policing strategies such as attending neighborhood meetings and participating in non-traditional law enforcement functions.

NCA/NCF