Contact: Antonia Ferrier (202) 224-5344
Friday, March 31, 2006

WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senators Olympia J. Snowe (R-ME) and Susan Collins (R-ME) today announced that the Community Capacity Development Office in the U.S. Department of Justice has awarded entities throughout Maine grants totaling $681,826.

“We are pleased with the contributions of the Calais and Androscoggin County Weed & Seed Programs in reducing crime, juvenile offenses, illegal drug use, and domestic violence,” Senators Snowe and Collins said in a joint statement. “This type of community involvement in local law enforcement efforts is truly indispensable and undoubtedly produces safer, more vibrant neighborhoods in Maine. We are also thrilled that the DOJ has awarded further funding for crime prevention and victim compensation in our state.”

The funding is distributed as follows:

· $225,000 to the Calais Weed & Seed site

· $224,487 to the Androscoggin County Weed & Seed site

· $201,100 to the Maine office of the Attorney General to enhance state victim compensation payments to eligible crime victims

· $18, 690 to Penobscot County for the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program

· $12,549 to the City of South Portland for the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program

Weed and Seed is a community-based strategy sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and is an innovative, comprehensive multi-agency approach to law enforcement, crime prevention, and community revitalization. The Community Capacity Development Office (CCDO) in the DOJ oversees the Weed and Seed initiative. The program aims to prevent, control, and reduce violent crime, drug abuse, and gang activity in designated high-crime neighborhoods across the country. The more than 300 Weed and Seed sites range in size from several neighborhood blocks to several square miles, with populations ranging from 3,000 to 50,000. The strategy involves a two-pronged approach: law enforcement agencies and prosecutors cooperate in "weeding out" violent criminals and drug abusers, and public agencies and community-based private organizations collaborate to "seed" much-needed human services, including prevention, intervention, treatment, and neighborhood restoration programs. A community-oriented policing component bridges the weeding and seeding elements.

Law enforcement officials in the City of Calais will build a collaborative aimed at coordinating resources to prevent, control, and reduce violent crime, drug abuse, and gang activity within the City of Calais. Community policing goals will create a collaborative of residents and law enforcement officials to raise the level of citizen involvement in crime prevention and increase positive interactions between the two groups. Prevention, intervention, and treatment goals will provide enrichment activities for youth, expand drug treatment options, and enhance prevention education. Neighborhood restoration goals will be to work towards the revitalization and improvement of Calais’ physical environment.

Law enforcement officials in Androscoggin County will enhance communication among the various agencies to ensure efficiency and collaborate with the U.S. Attorney’s Office to target violent criminals. Community policing efforts will support the development, expansion, and training of police officers and residents in an effort to further problem-solving efforts. Prevention, intervention, and treatment efforts will develop a variety of sustainable safe haven programs to ensure long-term accessibility and usage by residents county-wide. Neighborhood restoration goals will work with housing providers and grassroots organizations to increase green space and improve vacant lots.

The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program (JAG) allows states, tribes, and local governments to support a broad range of activities to prevent and control crime based on their own local needs and conditions. Grant funds can be used for state and local initiatives, technical assistance, training, personnel, equipment, supplies, contractual support, and information systems for criminal justice for any one or more of the following purpose areas: 1- law enforcement programs, 2- prosecution and court programs, 3- prevention and education programs, 4- corrections and community corrections programs, 5- drug treatment programs, and 6- planning, evaluation, and technology improvement programs.

The Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office and the City of Bangor will use the majority of their JAG funds to equip, train and maintain the necessary high-level of readiness of their respective Special Response Teams.

The city of South Portland will use their JAG funds for the purposes of traffic control, driver education and enforcement of safe speed limits. Specifically, the city will use the funds for overtime pay to deploy police officers to monitor and measure the traffic flow at various times of the day, on different days of the week, as well as chronicle speed violations. The police officers will determine whether to educate drivers through warnings or by issuance of tickets for aggressive driving, speeding, or other disregard for safe driving practices.

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