FY 2009 Recovery Act Justice Assistance Grant Program

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 Vermont Department of Public Safety will use its Recovery Act JAG award to support law enforcement technology upgrades and new technologies needed to keep Vermont law enforcement operating with the newest, most reliable, and robust technologies. Many of the technologies have been in place for some time and have become outdated and need to be replaced. The technology will fall within the Vermont State Police, Office of Technology Services, the Information Technology section, and the Radio Technology Services section and, as such, will have a centralized management structure ensuring the completion of the projects. All of the technology will comply with federal and state procurement rules and policies and competitive bidding will take place when appropriate. Whenever possible, turnkey equipment and services will be purchased providing uninterrupted serves for up to three years. The types of equipment to be purchased will include: an upgrade of the data center that delivers the Vermont Incident Based Report System (VIBRS), a network of services that provide a variety of information to law enforcement; an upgrade in the centralized Computer Aided/Records Management System (CAD/RMS) that will allow for mapping and an E 9-1-1 interface; telephone system and switch replacement; mobile data support position; email transition; mobile video equipment replacement; and a live scan fingerprint equipment replacement. Additionally, they will hire an Information Technology Specialist for a period of three years to work through and help with the implementation and support of the mobile data computers being brought on line in the local and county agencies. Due to the transparency requirement of the Recovery Act JAG funding, there will need to be a significant amount of time spent on preparing reports. Grant funds will be used to provide overtime to the grant specialist, assigned to this Recovery Act JAG award, to compile and submit the required reports for this grant.

NCA/NCF