Law Enforcement Equipment

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 Irwin County and the city of Ocilla will use the Recovery Act JAG funds to support the Ocilla Police Department and the Irwin County Sheriff's Office. Irwin County Board of Commissioners is the designated fiscal agent, and under an agreement, the Ocilla Police Department and the Irwin County Sheriff's Office will work in cooperation to purchase vital equipment to provide better law enforcement for all of Irwin County. The Irwin County Sheriff's Office will use the funds to purchase a moving target system, Taclite TDU pants, Taclite TDU shirts, Kodak 12MP digital cameras, and a Garmin nuvi 255 portable GPS. The Ocilla Police Department will use the grant funds for equipment, including a MotoShot TCR and a 3D torso and digital ally DVM. The goals of the program are to preserve the jobs of the existing law enforcement officials by equipping them with necessary equipment to better perform in their positions and to provide law enforcement officials with the latest technological equipment to improve their performance in duties relating to investigations.

NCA/NCF