Sept. 30 – Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-26) joins Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Resteno and Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown to announce that Buffalo and Niagara Falls Has received nearly $300,000 in federal funding for public safety and crime prevention measures.
These grants are provided through the US Department of Justice Edward Byrne Memorial Judicial Assistance Grant (JAG) program. The City of Buffalo will receive $269,861 and the City of Niagara Falls $36,827.
“These awards provide valuable resources to help expand and strengthen local programs and initiatives that keep people and communities safe,” Higgins said.
The grant provides the city the flexibility to direct funding in a way that best meets the community’s public safety needs. For 2022, JAG’s focus areas are: combating hate crimes, promoting public trust between communities and criminal justice agencies, reducing violent crime, community violence intervention (CVI), responding to COVID-19, and crime analysis and investigation. Last year, the Niagara Falls Police Department received a JAG grant to fund two civilian community police liaison positions and the purchase of handheld radios.
“We are grateful for this additional funding to help our City Police Department continue to serve our community,” Restaino said.
Brown added, “Keeping our community safe remains one of my top priorities, and the JAG program is one of the Buffalo Police Department’s most useful tools for fighting and preventing crime, as well as implementing other necessary criminal justice reforms and additional policing support. I thank Congressman Brian Higgins for helping to secure these funds, which will give us an opportunity to further diversify our policing efforts to better serve our communities.”