Oklahoma 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 cities of Oklahoma, Bethany, Choctaw, Del, Edmond, Midwest, War Acres, and the County of Oklahoma will use their Recovery Act JAG funds to support the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Department and the city's Police Departments. The city of Oklahoma City will use its share of the funding to support the Ambassador Program, fund overtime gang reduction and specialized traffic enforcement programs, and purchase eight automated license plate readers and a new firearms training simulator. The county of Oklahoma will purchase 16 patrol vehicles, a driving simulator and a firearms simulator. The city of Bethany will purchase 23 tasers, two breathalyzers, and one vehicle video system. The City of Choctaw will purchase 14 tasers, two hand held radar units and six tire spike units. The City of Del will purchase nine vehicular video systems and personal protective equipment for officers. The City of Edmond will purchase 10 vehicle video systems. The cities of War Acres and Village will upgrade their computer aided dispatch and records management systems. These projects will increase officer safety and enable the officers to serve the general public more efficiently.

NCA/NCF