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TRENTON
– Attorney General Anne Milgram and
Criminal Justice Director Deborah L. Gramiccioni
today announced that the Division of Criminal
Justice is distributing $4 million to more
than 500 New Jersey law enforcement agencies
to purchase or replace body armor vests
for their officers.
A
total of $4,095,934 is being provided to
state, county and local law enforcement
and corrections agencies from the state’s
Body Armor Replacement Fund, which was established
by legislation in 1998 and is funded through
a $1 surcharge on traffic tickets and forfeitures
of bail.
Checks
for the 2008 round of annual funding were
mailed to the participating agencies late
last week. Grants were provided to all 545
agencies that applied.
“Police
officers put their lives on the line every
day when they report to duty,” said
Attorney General Milgram. “We want
to make them safer by ensuring that every
officer wears a bullet-resistant vest that
meets performance standards.”
A
detailed list of the grants is available
with this release at www.njpublicsafety.com.
“We’re
pleased to be able to provide millions of
dollars each year so that the officers who
protect the people of New Jersey can have
life-saving body armor vests,” said
Director Gramiccioni. “The $4 million
that we’re awarding this year brings
to $40 million the total grants awarded
in the 11 years that this funding program
has been in place.”
The
cost of body armor varies, but the minimum
grant amount is $500. The state has a multi-vendor
contract with distributors that enables
law enforcement agencies to purchase the
make and model of vest that best meets their
needs. As a condition of the state grant,
agencies must purchase vests from a list
of vests certified by the National Institute
of Justice, the research arm of the U.S.
Department of Justice. There are hundreds
of approved vests on the list.
Since
the inception of the Body Armor Replacement
Fund Program in 1998, the Division of Criminal
Justice - Grants & Program Development
Section has provided more than $40 million
to the New Jersey statewide law enforcement
community to purchase thousands of new vests.
The
following amounts have been distributed
in prior years:
1998
- $2,055,323
1999 - $3,296,390
2000 - $3,860,170
2001 - $3,690,778
2002 - $3,770,409
2003 - $3,755,622
2004 - $3,806,901
2005 - $3,698,166
2006 - $3,947,155
2007 - $4,563,086
For
more information on the Body Armor Replacement
Fund Program log on to the Division of Criminal
Justice Web site at www.nj.gov/lps/BodyArmor.
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