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DeKalb to receive justice grant
by Brian Egeston
be@brianwrites.com
DeKalb County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously April 28 to accept $2,407,651 in federal funding to create jobs and promote economic recovery. The funding is part of the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG), which is a provider of federal criminal justice funds to state and local organizations. The 2009 grant is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
A committee of six members in the DeKalb County justice system determined where and how the funds would be used. JAG funds support various components of the criminal justice system such as law enforcement, prosecution and courts, crime prevention and education, corrections, drug treatment, crime victim and witness programs.
The amount awarded to the county was calculated by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, which uses the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) to evaluate statistics of state and local organizations. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation contributed to compiling the data used in UCR.
DeKalb qualified for the grant because the county’s police department reports its crime statistics. Other police departments in DeKalb, including Clarkston, Chamblee, Stone Mountain, Lithonia, Doraville and Decatur, are eligible for funds not included in the amount awarded to DeKalb.
Roughly 48 percent of the funding will go toward drug treatment and programming for at-risk youth, while the remaining amount will go toward criminal justice operations in the county. Seventy-two criminal justice positions will be created to meet the mandated requirements, according to summary release by the county.
The grant is named to honor Edward R. Byrne, a former New York City police officer. According to the Bureau of Justice Assistance, on Feb. 26, 1988, Byrne was protecting a witness who had agreed to testify in court against local drug dealers when he was shot in the head five times and killed. The four assailants were eventually captured and sentenced to 25 years to life. Byrne was 22 years old when he died.
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