Grant Notifications
Justice Assistance Grant (JAG)
The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government (LFUCG) recently received notification of available funding from the United States Justice Department under the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program 2023 Local Solicitation. The JAG program allows local agencies to prioritize and place justice funds where needed. LFUCG is eligible to receive a formula amount of $144,271. The award is based on a formula using population and Part One Violent Crime statistics. The following information is provided in accordance with application requirements.
Public comments and questions should be emailed to JusticeAssistance@lexingtonky.gov. The deadline for submitting any comments on this allocation is 2 p.m. on Aug. 18, 2023.
Awards are made in the first fiscal year of the appropriation and may be expended during the following three years. Extensions beyond this period may be made on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of BJA and must be requested via the Grants Management System (GMS) no less than 30 days prior to the grant end date.
JAG funds may be used for state and local initiatives to provide additional personnel, equipment, supplies, contractual support, training, technical assistance, and information systems for criminal justice, including for any one or more of the following:
Law Enforcement
- Prosecution and court programs, including indigent defense
- Prevention and education programs
- Corrections and Community corrections programs
- Drug treatment and enforcement programs
- Planning, evaluation, and technology improvement programs
- Crime victim and witness programs (other than compensation)
- Mental health programs and related law enforcement and corrections programs, including behavioral programs and crisis intervention teams
The Lexington Police Department is recommending that these funds be expended as follows:
| Decription | Bureau | Budget |
|---|---|---|
| Storage Building and Training Aids | K-9 | $25,000.00 |
| Two Dell laptops | CRU | $6,000.00 |
| Five Replacement Bicycles w/accessories | CLEAR | $8,000.00 |
| Upgraded Helmets to match ballistic parameters of ERU and robot batteries | HDU | $26,600.00 |
| Two Radar Trailers and One Trailer to store and transport the new pedestrian crossing gates | Traffic | $21,500.00 |
| Storage Building and Training Aids | BOI | $11,000.00 |
| Trijicon optics, Mounting Plate, Sights needed and a Weapon Mounted Light | BOP | $33,000.00 |
| 30 Glock 17Rs – Resetting Training Guns | Training | $13,171.00 |
| Total | $144,271.00 |
Storage Building and Training Aids – K-9 is in need of additional storage for their supplies, equipment and training aids. They currently have no additional room at the K-9 facility to store the needed equipment to operate efficiently. Training aids needed are Ray Allen Jump Equipment Set $2199.99
Ray Allen/JJ Dog A-Frame Canine Climb – These two items are additional agility and training equipment that is desired to complete the canine agility course. By completing this course, it would better prepare the canines for obstacles on tracks to prevent injury, which would incur more vet costs.
Two Dell Laptops – Two Dell Laptop computers for the Collision Reconstruction Unit (CRU). The computers cost $6000 ($3000 each). We recently submitted a grant to purchase the computers and believed they would be purchased by the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety (KOHS); however, we learned recently they would not be purchasing them. The computers serve different functions and have many uses, which the currently issued department laptops cannot meet. The most useful in collision investigations is the fact that the computer allows us to process scenes using drone images, which ultimately allows us to open roadways in accordance to the quick clearance procedures taught during the National Traffic Incident Management (TIM) training. As we were trained, this lessens the chances of post-secondary collisions, thus lessening additional property damage and potential injury. Judges, juries, defense attorneys and prosecutors are expecting to see technology used in local cases that they have seen used across the country to depict crime scenes. Our agency possesses the physical technology (Drones) needed to meet these demands; however, the lack of computing technology limits our drones' effectiveness. By purchasing these computers, it will allow us to present the best possible cases to prosecutors.
Five Replacement Bicycles with accessories – Bike-certified officers are frequently deployed in areas such as the downtown entertainment district, apartment complexes, parks and other areas which are difficult to access while in a vehicle. They also deployed during large-scale events such as NCAA Basketball Tournament, July 4th festivities, and the Roots and Heritage Festival.
Upgraded Helmets and robot batteries for ERU – Upgraded helmets for the team to match the ballistic parameters of ERU.
Purchase of robot batteries – With the robot upgrade we got form the Dept. of Homeland Security (total upgrade from this grant was $180,000), the entire robot platform changed, to include the way the robot is powered. They now use nine military BB2590 batteries, which we had no spare on hand. We have one set of batteries now to operate the robot but have no spares to change out for prolonged operations.
Two Radar Trailers and One Trailer to store and transport the new pedestrian crossing gates – Two radar trailers to replace our aging trailer and one trailer to store and transport the new pedestrian crossing gates that DEM is purchasing for us.
Computer Forensics Workstation Equipment – A new device is needed to establish a fourth work station in the CFU office that would enable up to 4 detectives at a time to process phones, computers, etc., greatly decreasing the backlog of requests they are currently experiencing. By adding a fourth workstation and enabling CFU to process items at a greater rate, every other investigative unit benefits as well since they will see quicker returns on their requests.
Trijicon optics, Mounting Plate, Sights needed and a Weapon Mounted Light – To upgrade the firearms for all Field Training Officers in BOP that have not already purchased said equipment and are interested in transitioning to this new system.
30 Glock 17Rs – Resetting Training Guns – These are resettable training handguns needed for recruits during their training. A traditional handgun requires the recruit to rack the slide each time they can pull the trigger which slows down their training and reduces the number of repetitions they can complete during dry firing. These automatically reset each time they pull the trigger, increasing the number of repetitions they can complete during their training. They also do not have a firing pin which increases the safety of a training firearm.
