FY 2009 Recovery Act JAG 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.

The city of Pennsacola will use its Fiscal Year 2009 Recovery Act JAG award to support their Community Camera Project that was implemented in 2008 to provide 24-hour surveillance capabilities in designated locations throughout the city. Currently, there are four cameras at various locations. The city plans to use grant funds to add 13 additional cameras and supporting hardware.

The goals of the Community Camera Project are to increase surveillance of known high-crime and downtown areas, provide added security for downtown businesses and their visitors/employees, and reduce criminal activity in specific locations. The community services cameras will help officers deal more effectively with transients, vagrants, and homeless people who are engaging in such criminal activities as thefts, vandalism, and misuse of public property. By adding additional cameras and hardware, the city hopes to create a link on their website that enables the public to electronically access some of the locations. This will allow the public to monitor downtown events and locations where suspicious activities are identified and reported to the police.

NCA/NCF