Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-27) announced that Western New York has been awarded federal grant in the amount of $607,957 from the U. S. Department of Justice’s Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program.
 
“This federal funding will provide our local public safety providers with important tools as they work to keep our streets and neighborhoods safe,” said Congressman Higgins.
 
Erie County, the cities of Buffalo and Lackawanna, and the towns of Amherst, Cheektowaga, and Tonawanda applied jointly for fiscal year 2009
JAG funding.  

• Buffalo will use funds for juvenile delinquency prevention programs, crisis intervention and counseling programs, the city’s drug court, and community policing initiatives that includes a citizen’s police academy, a non-emergency police service phone line, and a program that aims to rid residential properties of drug activity officer overtime associated with directed patrol efforts.
• Lackawanna will purchase radar units and breath test devices for traffic enforcement. 
• Cheektowaga will support officer overtime for selective enforcement activities and an update of tactical mapping. 
• Erie County will use its share to support the salaries of an assistant district attorney assigned to juvenile justice prosecution and a software programmer tasked with examining and improving the efficiency of the county’s law enforcement records management system. 
• Amherst will apply its share towards mobile radios and hardware for its police department’s patrol vehicles. 
• Tonawanda will use remaining funds to purchase a new marked patrol vehicle for its K-9 Unit. 

Across the country, the JAG program funds are used for state and local initiatives, technical assistance, training, personnel, equipment, supplies, contractual support, and information systems for criminal justice 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 programs; and 6) planning, evaluation, and technology improvement programs.