FY 2009 Recovery Act Byrne Competitive Grant Program

The Recovery Act Edward Byrne Memorial Competitive Grant Program (Byrne Competitive Program) will help communities improve the capacity of state and local justice systems and provide for national support efforts including training and technical assistance programs strategically targeted to address local needs. This competitive grant announcement focuses on initiatives in eight areas: 1) preventing and reducing violent crime through community-based data-driven approaches; 2) providing funding for neighborhood-based probation and parole officers; 3) reducing mortgage fraud and crime related to vacant properties; 4) hiring of civilian support personnel in law enforcement (training staff, analysts, dispatchers, etc.); 5) enhancing forensic and crime scene investigations; 6) improving resources and services for victims of crime; 7) supporting problem-solving courts; and 8) national training and technical assistance partnerships.

Under category 4, the Arizona Department of Public Safety, in conjunction with the Criminal Investigations Division, will use the grant award to hire civilian law enforcement staff. The goal of this project is to support the following programs: the Southwest Border Arizona Region HIDTA, the Arizona Counter Terrorism Information Center, and the Rocky Mountain Information Network. In order to accomplish this goal, the Arizona Department of Public Safety will use funds to fill four analyst positions and one research specialist position held vacant because of a lack of funding. Two criminal intelligence analysts will be for the HITDA Post Seizure Analysis Team, one criminal intelligence analyst for the Arizona Counter Terrorism Information Center, one criminal intelligence analyst for the Rocky Mountain Information Network, and one intelligence research specialist for the HITDA Post Seizure Analysis Team. Providing intelligence analysts and intelligence research specialists to process the raw intelligence information from local, regional, and national organizations will make law enforcement officers throughout the region more effective in addressing the broad range of criminal activity in their respective areas.

CA/NCF