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Pittsfield Awarded Justice Assistance Grant11:14AM / Thursday, August 13, 2009
PITTSFIELD, Mass. – Mayor James M. Ruberto announced that the City of Pittsfield Police Department was awarded the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant for $178,113. The funds will be applied toward police efforts to counter gang activity in the city.
“In these tough economic times seeking out grants becomes critical. Chief Wynn and his team are committed to finding different ways to protect the citizens of Pittsfield, and gaining this grant is an important way to support them.” said Mayor Ruberto. “This year alone the Police Dept. is close to $300,000 in current and pending grants. I commend the Chief and all of the police officers who are working hard to improve public safety.”
Over the past several years the Gang Intelligence Unit has evolved from simply an intelligence gathering and analysis team into a fully capable street enforcement unit. These funds will allow the PPD to expand the GIU’s scope:
• continuing the department’s gang intelligence collection, analysis, and dissemination efforts
• expand the education and training of local educators, social workers, and community members on gang issues and trends
• increase the level of street level interdiction training for the members of the GIU, in order to develop it into a Gang Enforcement Unit
• equip the newly expanded GEU, in order to support an increase in anti-gang operations
• fund dedicated anti-gang enforcement details, targeting known and suspected gang members involved in narcotics and weapon offenses
“The Pittsfield Police Department is committed to aggressive gang enforcement in Pittsfield and the surrounding areas,” Chief Wynn continued to comment that, “this grant allows us to expand on the recent successes that we have had and will supplement the cut from our community policing funds.”
The Justice Assistance Grant Program is the primary provider of federal criminal justice funding to state and local jurisdictions. JAG funds support all components of the criminal justice system, from multijurisdictional drug and gang task forces to crime prevention and domestic violence programs, courts, corrections, treatment, and justice information sharing initiatives. JAG funded projects may address crime through the provision of services directly to individuals and/or communities and by improving the effectiveness and efficiency of criminal justice systems, processes, and procedures. |
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