Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2023, $2,313,909)
The Puerto Rico Department of Justice (PRDOJ) will use its Fiscal Year 2023 JAG formula grant funds to support these program areas: law enforcement, prosecution and courts, prevention and education, corrections, drug treatment, and technology improvement.
Puerto Rico is currently experiencing high levels of violence, an increment in addiction rates, poverty, and gang rivalries for control of drug markets and trans-shipment of drugs to the continental United States which have left local law enforcement facing a serious security threat. The reality that Puerto Rico faces is such that the governor has had to extend the State of Emergency issued in January 2021 for Gender Violence to respond to this social threat.
The goal for projects funded with JAG resources will be to enhance and develop the Criminal Justice System, to improve the quality of criminal justice information systems, to increase the use of these systems, and for the implementation of new and enhanced technologies. Focusing on training law enforcement officers and purchasing adequate equipment to reduce violent crimes and drug trafficking. These efforts will be joined with strategies to stop trafficking of illegal arms and drugs smuggled through our borders.
Other projects of high priority will be those that improve the education and rehabilitation capabilities of our correctional institutions to prevent recidivism and to provide drug treatment services to adults and juvenile offenders.