AFTER MAJOR PUSH BY SCHUMER & MALONEY, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AGREES ALLOW CITY OF NEWBURGH TO REPURPOSE $152K FOR NEW SECURITY CAMERAS
Newburgh Has Been Confronting High Crime Rates & Applied For Fed Funds to Install Urgently-Needed Security Cameras to Deter and Solve Crimes; Cameras Have Wide Support From the Community and Cops
Schumer & Maloney Successfully Urged Fed DOJ To Repurpose $150K Grant Money –– to Newburgh So It Could Install More Security Cameras
Schumer, Maloney: Fed Investment Will Allow Newburgh To Install Digital Security Camera System To Help City's Most Crime-Ridden Areas
U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer and U.S. Representative Sean Patrick Maloney today announced that, following their push, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has approved the City of Newburgh’s request to repurpose $152,031– from a previously approved Project Safe Neighborhood grant – to launch and expand the City of Newburgh’s new security camera network. The camera project has broad support throughout the community and with law enforcement. In October of 2015, the City of Newburgh applied for and received the Project Safe Neighborhoods grant worth nearly $460,000 dollars to create safer neighborhoods and reduce gang and gun violence. However, the lawmakers said $152,031of this funding was not released at that time. Schumer and Maloney went to bat for Newburgh and urged the DOJ to repurpose and release this funding for the new security camera network, which will help the city deter and solve crime.
“This federal investment is great news for the City of Newburgh, which will be able to expand a security camera network to prevent and solve crime. I was proud to go to bat for Newburgh with Rep. Maloney and urge the Department of Justice to swiftly approve their request to repurpose this critical funding. Every dollar makes a difference, and with these additional tools, Newburgh will really be able to take a bite out of violent crime and build a healthier community,” said U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer.
“After working hand-in-glove with Newburgh Police Department to ensure we have more cops on the beat and the resources they need to keep our city safe, we have now secured federal funding for security cameras in the City. These cameras are a necessary tool to help our police respond to violent crimes more quickly, make it easier to prosecute those who would do harm to our families, and will also function as a deterrent that will make criminals think twice before pulling a trigger that would end a life. I will continue working with the Department of Justice and Senator Schumer to get critical funding for more crime-fighting technology throughout the city to keep our streets safe,” said Representative Sean Patrick Maloney (NY-18).
Schumer and Maloney said that the people of Newburgh have struggled to fight the too-high levels of violent crime in their community and need all the tools and financial support they can get from the federal government to assist these efforts. This federal investment is an essential step needed to help the city repair nonworking surveillance cameras and install new digital surveillance cameras in the city's most crime-ridden areas.
A copy of Schumer’s initial letter to the DOJ appears below:
Dear Attorney General Lynch:
I write to bring your attention to a problem impacting the utilization of grant funds by the City of Newburgh, New York, and to urge your swift approval of the City's request to repurpose this funding.
In October of 2015, the City of Newburgh applied for funding through the Project Safe Neighborhoods program, and was awarded $458,000 dollars to create safer neighborhoods through a sustained reduction in gun crime and gang violence. The funds were released to Newburgh in March of 2016, but the City was told by the Department of Justice that it could not utilize all of this funding for the originally planned project. Subsequently, last spring, Newburgh submitted a formal request to DOJ asking that the funding be repurposed to go towards the installation of cameras in the City.
Newburgh, which is plagued by violent crime but working aggressively to target and combat crime across the City, will use this repurposed funding to repair nonworking surveillance cameras and install new digital surveillance cameras in the City's most crime-ridden areas. The camera installation project has broad and deep support throughout the community. My constituents have reached out to express the urgency of the need for this funding and to request that DOJ allow the City to immediately utilize the Project Safe Neighborhoods remaining funding of $152,031, currently in limbo, for this essential project.
Thank you for your swift consideration of this important request. For additional information, please do not hesitate to contact my staff.
Sincerely,
Charles E. Schumer
United States Senator
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