$424.8 million in Recovery Act grants awarded by DoJ for public safety-related jobs The Justice Department is dispatching $424 million in new Recovery Act funds to 20 states, territories and the District of Columbia. The dual purpose of the grants is to maintain or increase public safety, while creating or retaining jobs in the law enforcement community. The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) funds are part of more than $4 billion in Justice Department Recovery Act monies available to assist state, local and tribal law enforcement, according to Attorney General Eric Holder. The procedure for allocating JAG grants is based on a formula of population and violent crime statistics, in combination with a minimum allocation to ensure that each state and territory receives an appropriate share of funding. Sixty percent of the allocation is awarded directly to a state and 40 percent is set aside for units of local government. States are required to sub-grant a portion of the funds to local units of government, such as a city, county, township or town. Faith-based and other community organizations are also eligible to receive pass-through funding from the state, as are tribal governments, according to a DoJ statement.
The deadline for local units of government to submit their Recovery Act applications to the Department of Justice is May 18, 2009. For information on how to apply for the state-managed pass-through funding, go to http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/saa/index.htm.
State JAG plan summaries, as outlined in the DoJ statement, follow:
Alabama, $18.7 million: The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, Law Enforcement and Traffic Safety division, plans to support testing capabilities to detect use of illegal drugs, identify drug abusers, and provide a treatment system; provide systems for intelligence-gathering, data collection and analysis to assist in coordinating enforcement efforts; and support state projects to stabilize the government budgets to minimize and avoid reductions in essential services and counter-productive state and local tax increases.
Arizona, $25 million: The Arizona Criminal Justice Commission plans to support the statewide effort to fight drug trafficking and violent crime. Priority will be given to job creation and retention, particularly jobs key to multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional drug, gang, and violent crime task forces; the associated prosecution projects and statewide civil forfeiture efforts; criminal justice information sharing projects; adjudication, forensic analysis, detention, and criminal justice system support services; and proven substance abuse prevention and education programs.
Connecticut, $12 million: The Connecticut Office of Policy and Management plans to expand the Department of Corrections case management system; upgrade automated fingerprinting systems; support drug task force activities; increase the number of DNA samples obtained from inmates and expedite sample processing; increase the visibility of state police vehicles to reduce collisions; expand domestic violence shelter staffs; establish a sexual assault forensic examiner program; provide more effective facility and community based corrections programs; and translate community outreach, education and media materials.
Colorado, $18 million: The Colorado Division of Criminal Justice Services plans to support efforts to prevent and control crime; improve the criminal and juvenile justice systems; improve law enforcement’s operational effectiveness; improve the corrections system, including treatment in prisons and jails; improve the operational effectiveness of the court process; address the treatment needs of adult and juvenile substance abuse and mentally ill offenders; and respond to the needs of crime victims.
Delaware, $6 million: The Delaware Criminal Justice Council plans to support efforts to prevent and control crime by enhancing gang and gun trafficking initiatives; police/parole and probation partnerships; witness protection and multi-agency initiatives to incarcerate fugitives; sex offender monitoring; drug/mental health courts; targeting violent adult and juvenile offenders; upgrading officer safety equipment; retaining correctional officers; and expanding the successful Operation Safe Streets initiative.
District of Columbia, $11.7 million: The District Of Columbia Justice Grants Administration plans to support efforts to prevent and control crime; improve technology for core operations; law enforcement initiatives; prevention and education efforts; technology and research; and corrections and community corrections with special emphasis on at-risk youth/status offender diversion initiatives and prisoner re-entry.
Florida, $81 million: The Florida Department of Law Enforcement plans to support law enforcement efforts such as eradicating marijuana, dismantling clandestine laboratories; disrupting illicit commerce; targeting white collar, computer, and organized crimes; along with prevention initiatives such as anti drug and gang education programs; school resource officers; community crime prevention, policing, and corrections programs.
Kansas, $12 million: The Kansas Criminal Justice Coordinating Council plans to preserve or create criminal justice-related jobs for parole officers, community corrections officers, juvenile correctional officers, special criminal investigations agents, criminal prosecutor, and technical specialists; while also supporting initiatives in community corrections, juvenile supervision and case management; internet safety; criminal investigations and prosecutions; forensic evidence analysis; training and prevention efforts; and equipment upgrades.
Louisiana, $21 million: The Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Criminal Justice plans to establish or continue programs to impact drug and violent crime problems across the state; address recidivism by strengthening prevention of crime and drug abuse intervention, treatment, and rehabilitation; provide specialized law enforcement training; and enhance forensics laboratories.
Maryland, $26.5 million: The Maryland Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention plans to support the creation and retention of public safety-related jobs while also removing warranted fugitives from the streets; upgrading communications and forensic equipment; purchasing computer and software technology; improving prison and jail security; investing in data-driven policing strategies to include intelligence-based parole and probation supervision and partnerships, cross-border collaborations with neighboring States, and gang enforcement and gun trafficking initiatives.
Massachusetts, $25 million: The Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPS) will use the funding to maintain or increase public safety in the Commonwealth, while creating or retaining jobs. EOPS plans to support summer youth employment programming, community-based prevention programs, district attorneys’ prosecution, victim witness advocacy, community programs, sheriffs’ department re-entry programs, local law enforcement policing and programs, and state public safety agencies’ core services.
Michigan, $41 million: The Michigan Office of Drug Control Policy will use the funding to maintain or increase public safety in the state, while creating or retaining jobs within the law enforcement community. The Office of Drug Control Policy estimates that the jobs created or saved will be for case managers, court liaisons, and peer support advocates in mental health courts as well as continued employment of State Appellate Defender Office staff who provide state-funded appellate services for felony convictions for indigent clients. The state also plans to support strategies for multi-jurisdictional task forces, prescription and over-the-counter drug abuse community awareness programs; community policing and community prosecution strategies; technology enhancement projects; local correctional resources and problem solving courts including drug treatment, domestic violence, family dependency, and mental health.
Mississippi, $11 million: The Mississippi Division of Public Safety Planning will use the funding to maintain or increase public safety in the state, while creating or retaining jobs within the law enforcement community. The state also plans to use the funds to support multi-jurisdictional drug task force programs and initiatives, community crime prevention and treatment programs; drug court operations; juvenile justice programs; cold case initiatives; law enforcement training programs; crime labs; and victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse.
Nevada, $13.8 million: The Nevada Department of Public Safety anticipates the retention and hiring of gang and task force personnel; and plans to support anti drug and violent crime initiatives to include anti drug and gang prevention, education, and treatment programs; information sharing and coordination; alternative sentencing programs; multifaceted community response programs; rural K-9 program; law enforcement training; and a statewide records management system.
New Hampshire, $6 million: The New Hampshire Department of Justice plans to support cold case and narcotics investigative resources; enhancements of prosecution resources for consumer protection, county and local district court; victim witness advocates and child advocacy centers; recidivism reduction and specialty court programs; and initiatives to increase the efficiency, and reduction of crime and victimization.
New Jersey, $29.7 million: The New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety plans to support the state's Safe Streets and Neighborhoods Program focusing on law enforcement, prevention, and reentry; including multilevel task forces targeting violent gangs, guns, and narcotics; workforce readiness skills programs; job placement; education and youth development; expanding intervention and prevention programs; reducing recidivism; enhancing discharge planning for juvenile and offenders with mental health needs; and establishing a pilot program for intervention counselors to address technical parole violators.
New Mexico, $11 million: The New Mexico Department of Public Safety plans to focus on preserving and creating jobs and promoting economic recovery while supporting improvements to the state's criminal justice system to reduce violent crime and the sale of illicit drugs; identifying and reporting drug and gang trends; updating the state's Drug and Gang Policy; and promoting strategies to identify, prevent, and respond to terrorism networks.
Northern Mariana Islands, $1.6 million: The Northern Mariana Islands’ Criminal Justice Planning Agency plans to create new full-time positions that will support or directly impact efforts to stabilize local budgets to avoid a decline in essential services or an increase in local taxes; multi-jurisdictional drug and gang task forces; crime prevention programs; law enforcement programs; domestic violence programs; courts; corrections; treatment; and justice information sharing initiatives.
South Carolina, $23 million: The South Carolina Department of Public Safety plans to support efforts to hire personnel; purchase equipment; conduct training and technical assistance; projects to control crime and drugs; and enhancements to the criminal justice information systems to increase the apprehension, prosecution, adjudication, detention, and rehabilitation of persons who violate laws.
Tennessee, $30.8 million: The Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration, Office of Criminal Justice program, plans to require grant recipient agencies to use the Recovery Act JAG funds for the retention and creation of jobs supporting the criminal justice system in areas such as drug courts; correctional programming; crime victim and witness programs; multi-jurisdictional drug and violent crime task forces; criminal justice professional enhancement training; pretrial service delivery; technology improvement; and community crime prevention.
State Fiscal Stabilization Funds
A review of the available funds mostly managed by the US Department of Education, that could provide funding for public safety projects:
$8.8B in "Stabilization Funds" available to police in economic stimulus package Law enforcement agencies may apply for an estimated $3.8 billion to $4.1 billion in grant funding assigned to the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grants (JAG), and various other programs included in the economic stimulus package signed into law by President Obama last month. However, there may be as much as $8.8 billion in additional funds available to law enforcement agencies through the “State Fiscal Stabilization Fund” (SFSF), an appropriation of $53.6 billion under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). From Police One, March 16, 2009
Pasco County Board of Commissioners, Public/Urban Area, Security Camera System; $113,400
Volusia County – VOTRAN, Public/Urban Area, Security Camera System: $200,000
Jackson County Transportation Inc. , PNP/Rural Area, Security Camera System: $23,800
Virginia:
• Total ARRA Funding for Transportation: $694.5 million
o Approximately $116 million will be distributed to transit providers
o These funds will also be dispersed to 3 Urban and Metropolitan Planning Organizations in D.C., Richmond and Hampton Roads.
• Certification Status: Virginia is currently working on finalizing the projects to be funded by the ARRA stimulus package. Once the projects are finalized, Virginia will file a 1511 Certification detailing the allocation of funds to specific projects and area of the state.
• Projects:
Safety Projects including purchasing surveillance equipment
• Certification Status: Pennsylvania has completed its 1511 Certification detailing its use of funds as well as all other required certifications to receive ARRA funding.
Pennsylvania Luzerne County (Department of Justice funding):
Edwardsville, $28,600, upgrade the police computer server, purchase digital cameras for police, enhance security around the borough building, install window barriers on police cruisers, buy a breathalyzer testing device and increase part-time police in problem areas.
Kingston, $31,255, upgrade police communication equipment, buy surveillance equipment for detectives and install new patrol vehicle radios.
Butler Township, $29,287, install video and computer systems in patrol cars and buy ballistic shields, digital cameras and semi-automatic shotguns.
State