On Wednesday, the Reno City Council accepted two $70,000 Justice Assistance Grants to the Reno Police Department to support the operations of the multi-jurisdictional gang unit and the narcotics prevention and enforcement program.

The federal grants are through the Nevada Department of Public Safety, Office of Criminal Justice through June 30, 2011. The grants do not require a match from local government and help to offset law enforcement costs that would otherwise come from local government budgets.

The cooperative law enforcement gang unit includes officers from the Reno Police Department, Washoe County Sheriff’s Department, Sparks Police Department and the Washoe County School District Police. The Regional Gang Unit focuses on known areas with high concentrations of gang members and gang activity, identifies and tracks the most active gang members responsible for the majority of gang activity and gang related crimes. The combined agency operations employ proactive enforcement methods in the areas recognized for gang membership and narcotics activities.