LANSING –Senator Ray Basham (D-Taylor) announced today that Wayne County has been awarded $2,968,285, Allen Park has been awarded $115,823 and Southgate will receive $196,483 in federal funding to fight crime and update law enforcement technology. The funding is made possible by the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne JAG) program included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act), and are part of more than $41 million awarded to 93 different state, county and local agencies to help local communities bolster law enforcement activities and create or retain jobs. 

“These federal dollars are going directly to keeping and creating jobs and updating our law enforcement technology to increase their ability to protect our families,” said Sen. Basham. “As our state budget dollars are being stretched thinner and thinner, we must continue to make public safety a priority, and this Recovery Act funding allows us to do that.”

Byrne JAG program funds can be used to support all aspects of the criminal justice system, including multi-jurisdictional task forces; crime prevention and domestic violence programs; and courts, corrections, treatment, and justice information sharing initiatives. The City of Allen Park has received $115,823 for the Allen Park Police Department to purchase a Positron VIPER/Power 911 system to keep up with the demands of an evolving emergency management environment. The City of Southgate has received $196,483 to enable the 28th District Court to restore a probation officer and two drug technicians who were laid off due to economic budget restraints. The following grants were awarded to Wayne County:

• $1,022,436 for the 3rd Circuit Court, Family Division in Wayne County to allow the court’s juvenile drug court program to continue services when current program funding ends this fiscal year.
• $921,888 to the Wayne County Prosecuting Attorney to establish the Community Prosecution Program will be to reduce violent crime in the city of Detroit. It will aggressively target the main perpetrators of gun violence and non-fatal shootings, carjacking, armed robberies, open-air drug markets and gang activity. Seven full-time community prosecutors will be assigned to each Detroit Police District or Precinct.
• $721,961 for the Wayne County Sheriff's Department to organize and supervise work crews of parolees that will board up open and dangerous buildings, remove debris, and other neighborhood improvement efforts.
• $636,899 to Wayne State University’s Department of Public Safety for the university’s police department and community partners to implement a COMPSTAT initiative to enhance the safety of Midtown Detroit through data-driven, problem-oriented policing.
• $145,000 to the Wayne County Sheriff's Department to provide funding for infrastructure capacity improvements, upgrades and technical services to service and expand the success of the Southern Michigan Information Alliance, a consortium of twelve Wayne County public safety agencies.
• $145,000 to the Wayne County Sheriff's Department to provide for the data transformation, connectivity, and licensing of a crime information database, and software tools for public safety agencies in Wayne County.
• $12,000 to the Wayne County Airport Authority Police Department for the implementation of a covert video surveillance system to help improve the effectiveness of the Airport Special Investigation Unit.

To date, more than $67 million has been made available to Michigan law enforcement through the Byrne JAG program in the Recovery Act.  $25.8 million was allocated directly to local communities in March.  Communities receiving direct grants were required to submit applications and spending plans directly to the federal Department of Justice (DOJ).

Additional competitive grants, administered by the DOJ, have yet to be announced. The complete listing of grant awards is available on the Michigan Recovery Act website at www.michigan.gov/recovery.

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