2009 Belle Fourche Community Safety 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 city of Belle Fourche, through its police department, will use their Recovery Act JAG award to to fund the 2009
Belle Fourche Community Safety Project. This project is intended to equip each individual officer of the Belle Fourche Police Department with a Taser X26 for personal protection as well as protecting the lives of the suspects they encounter. By being equipped with a less-lethal tool,
the Belle Fourche Police Department members can choose to deploy the Taser instead of their duty issued sidearms, preserving the life of the encountered suspect in order for them to stand trial. Not only is the suspect's life preserved, but the officers involved will not be required to submit to debriefing, counseling or other grief support programs involved with loss
of life. To this end, the utilization of Tasers have been proven to improve community relations and positive attitude from the public. The other portion of the 2009 Belle Fourche Community Safety Project involves purchasing a portable LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) speed detection device. Speed related crashes have been identified as a preventable problem in the Belle Fourche community. Unlike conventional RADAR (Radio Detection and Ranging) devices currently in use by the Belle Fourche Police Department, the LIDAR system has the ability to single out individual vehicles.

NCA/NCF