Combating Rural Crime along the Northern USA Boarder-Multi County Drug and Criminal Interdiction Deputy Program

This grant program is authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5) (the "Recovery Act") 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 counter-productive state and local tax increases.

The Recovery Act-Assistance to Rural Law Enforcement to Combat Crime and Drugs Along the Northern and Southern United States Borders Program will improve or enhance the administration and operations of the law enforcement function in rural states and rural areas along the Northern or Southern borders of the United States. The "Southern Border" of the United States is limited to, the following states: California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. The "Northern Border" of the United States is limited to the following states: Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. The goal of the program is to build capacity to prevent, combat, and investigate crime, especially drug-related crime in rural states and rural areas along the borders.

Madison County will utilize its grant funds to hire a full time officer to work local, state, and federal roads to combat crime in four counties covering a 5,245 square mile area. A vehicle will also be purchased to allow the newly hired officer to focus enforcement efforts on 85 miles of Interstate 15 that goes from the Canada boarder to the Mexico Border. This officer will use a mobile computer, also purchased with grant funds, to track crime statistics. By hiring the additional officer, Madison County aims to increase arrests from previous years and focus added manpower on drug and criminal interdiction along the interstate.

CA/NCF