Justice Assistance Grant – Public Notification
DATE: April 17, 2012
TO: The Citizens of Pinellas County
FROM: Sheriff Bob Gualtieri
SUBJECT: Justice Assistance Grant – Public Notification
I am taking this opportunity to inform you that the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office and the St. Petersburg Police Department are proposing to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding delineating the amount of U. S. Department of Justice, Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) funds each will receive.
The information which follows provides information on the JAG, as well as the County’s and the City’s proposed use of JAG funds.
Background:
The County of Pinellas, Florida (County) and the City of St. Petersburg (City), Florida are units of local government appearing on the FY2011 Units of Local Government List as eligible to apply for Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) funds.
It has been determined that the County and City have a disparate allocation of JAG funds in that the City is scheduled to receive one and one half times more than the County, while the County bears more than 50% of the costs of incarceration that arise for Part 1 violent crimes reported by the geographically constituent units.
As a result of this disparate certification, the County and the City have agreed to submit a joint application for the aggregate of JAG funds ($293,118.00).
The County and the City will enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which will be submitted, as specified in the JAG Local Solicitation, to the Office of Justice Programs during the grant submission process.
The County and the City have agreed to allocate $146,559.00 each to the County and the City. The County will serve as the applicant and fiscal agent and will ensure that the application will be made public through the applicant’s public web site. The City will provide the County with information to assist with the development of any fiscal and/or programmatic reports that will be required of the JAG program.
Use of funds:
The County will utilize its FY2011 JAG funding individual allocation of $146,559.00 to sustain the Pinellas County Police Athletic League’s (PAL) After-School Program. The goal of the PAL After-School Program is to prevent and reduce delinquent behavior and victimization and to address juvenile crime and victimization by supporting evidence based practices that include after-school sports, recreational and academic activities and mentoring by law enforcement officers. At least 300 disadvantaged youth will have after-school, as well as vacation, programming at no cost to their families. Recreational and academic components will be designed to guide learning and engage youth in wholesome activities in a safe, drug-free and supervised environment.
SPPD will utilize its individual allocation of $146,559.00 to sustain and continue several of the Department’s crime prevention and law enforcement initiatives. JAG funding will be used to enable the provision of overtime for police officers to concentrate on specific issues at designated geographic and temporal points within the City more effectively. Funds will be used to sustain and supplement prevention programs such as the Community Resource Centers, the WRBX Radio Show, the use of rental vehicles for special investigations, and volunteer programs supported by the Department.
