City of Austin and Travis County 2010 JAG

The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program (JAG) allows states and units of local government, including tribes, to support a broad range of activities to prevent and control crime based on their own state and local needs and conditions. Grant funds can be used for state and local initiatives, technical assistance, training, personnel, equipment, supplies, contractual support, and information systems for criminal justice, including for any one or more of the following purpose areas: 1) law enforcement programs; 2) prosecution and court programs; 3) prevention and education programs; 4) corrections and community corrections programs; 5) drug treatment and enforcement programs; 6) planning, evaluation, and technology improvement programs; and 7) crime victim and witness programs (other than compensation).

The city of Austin and Travis County have been designated as disparate jurisdictions to share the FY 2010 JAG award. The city of Austin will serve as the fiscal agent and will use their portion of grant funds for a Paperless Citation and Collision Reporting System. The new equipment will be used by officers to issue various citations, write collision reports, and submit information to the law enforcement's APD Records Management system computer databases without additional input from currently assigned personnel. APD's goal is to become more efficient in issuing tickets and writing collision reports which will ultimately improve traffic enforcement efforts. Travis County will use their share of grant funds to replace and enhance their E-citation capability for Highway Enforcement Units. The replacement of the current handheld units with a tablet-pc type of device will allow Deputies to access the mainframe system and mobile CAD on one device. The equipment upgrade will enable law enforcement the ability to complete the state-required CR-3 crash reporting forms in the field. The goals of this project are to keep deputies in the field in a productive state for as long as possible and reduce maintenance required in keeping multiple devices operational.

NCA/NCF