City targets stimulus money for safety, jobs

Mayor Nutter announced yesterday that the city would spend $13.5 million in federal stimulus money to fund public-safety programs and save 52 court positions eliminated in budget cuts.

The Police Department will get more than $4 million for equipment and training and the establishment of a real-time crime-analysis center.

The center, which will operate round-the-clock to provide intelligence to detectives and patrol officers on the street, was proposed by Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey in his January 2008 crime-fighting strategy.

Nearly $2.4 million will go for a green jobs-training program for ex-offenders and a partnership to teach at-risk youths to create and restore murals.

The two programs should create an estimated 280 jobs over the next several years, the mayor's office said.

"That is a great use of these dollars," Nutter said.

This was the third time this month that the city has received federal stimulus money as part of the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

On June 8, Nutter announced that the city would use $12.7 million in federal money to help pay for $30 million in street repaving. On Monday, Philadelphia International Airport got $26.6 million from the federal government for two new baggage-screening and explosive-detecting systems.

The $13.5 million announced yesterday came from a long-standing Department of Justice grant program that the recovery act expanded.

Nutter said spreading that money around reflected his belief that crime-fighting and prevention must be tackled by a wide range of city agencies and nonprofits.

"Public safety is not just an effort carried out by the Police Department," he said.

More than $400,000 will be spent on a Department of Licenses and Inspections program to clean and seal off vacant buildings.

About $6.4 million will go to the courts to save 52 jobs in adult probation and parole, juvenile probation, pretrial services, and the community court.

"This grant money is an enormous help," President Judge Pamela Pryor Dembe said.

The Police Department benefits as well: Nearly $1.9 million will go for training and the purchase of less-than-lethal weapons, such as collapsible batons and Tasers.

The real-time crime center, to be modeled on ones in Washington and New York, will be a boost to officers on the street, Ramsey said.

"If there is a serious crime . . . we'll have analysts there gathering data and information," he said. "Anything that might provide a potential lead."