New Castle City Recovery Act JAG Project

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 the City of New Castle, County of Lawrence, and Borough of Ellwood City will use their Recovery Act JAG award in the amount of $144,785 to purchase cruisers, tasers, and stop stick devices, and to support personnel. The City of New Castle, serving as the fiscal agent, will use their share of the grant ($122,717) to hire a civilian police clerk and purchase two police cruisers to assist with additional patrol. The Borough of Ellwood City will use $22,068 to purchase tasers, which will provide an additional resource of non-lethal force, and stop stick devices, which will assist in the timely end to police pursuits. Lawrence County agreed not to receive funding.

NCA/NCF