U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell's announced that more than $90,000 in federal funds will go toward law enforcement in Scotland County.

The local awards are $28,765 for Scotland County and $62,042 for the city of Laurinburg, totaling $90,807 in local assistance.

This is part of $56,345,356 in Justice Assistance Grant funding is coming to North Carolina from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

“The safety of our communities must always be a priority. The folks who work in local justice deserve every available dollar to better help them protect and secure the citizens of Scotland County,” Kissell said in a statement. “I am so glad that stimulus money is going directly to our communities. Helping local law enforcement is just one of the reasons I voted for the Recovery and Reinvestment Act.”

Local law enforcement agencies are just finding out about the allocations.

Laurinburg Police Chief J.T. Evans said he had just found out about the grant Tuesday morning from a message Kissell's office had left him the night before.

Evans was uncertain about how the city would use the money, but said he wanted to use it to make some technological improvements to streamline the reporting process for police and make everything more efficient.

"We're going to use it for cameras and possibly some extra weapons," Sheriff Shep Jones said. He explained that the cameras "this will help preserve the integrity of our officers and also help us liability."

He also first found out about the grant Tuesday morning.

Scotland County and Laurinburg weren't the only nearby municipalities to receive funds.

Robeson County has a JAG allocation of $285,395, Richmond has $72,383, Moore County is getting $43,430, Lumberton is getting $171,651 and Rockingham is getting $45,686.

The top municipal receivers in the state are the biggest counties and cities.

Mecklenburg's towns and cities are getting $4,453,144 joint allocation, Wake and its municipalities are getting an allocation of $1,536,209, Guilford County, Greensboro and High Point are splitting a joint allocation of $1,708,424 and Cumberland County and Fayetteville are getting a joint allocation of $1,135,565.

Allocations are set up as individual allocations or joint allocations.

The North Carolina funds are part of $2 billion in Recovery Act 2009 funding for state and local law enforcement and criminal justice assistance.

"This funding is key to helping our states and local governments fight crime and keep our streets safe," said Attorney General Holder. "The Department of Justice is moving ahead of schedule to allocate these resources so we can retain police officers, enhance law enforcement capabilities, and ensure that we have the tools and equipment necessary to build safer communities."

Justice Assistant Grant funds can be used for a variety of efforts such as hiring law enforcement officers; supporting drug and gang task forces; funding crime prevention and domestic violence programs; and supporting courts, corrections, treatment, and justice information sharing initiatives.

The procedure for allocating JAG grants is based on a formula of population and violent crime statistics, in combination with a minimum allocation to ensure that each state and territory receives an appropriate share of funding. Sixty percent of the allocation is awarded directly to a state and 40 percent is set aside for units of local government. Funding will be used by states and more than 5,000 local communities to enhance their ability to protect communities and combat crime.

The Recovery Act includes more than $4 billion overall to assist state, local and tribal law enforcement and for other criminal justice activities that help to prevent crime and improve the criminal justice system in the United States while supporting the creation of jobs and much needed resources for states and local communities.

The full breakdown of JAG allocations for states, territories, and units of local government can be viewed at : http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/recoveryJAG/recoveryallocations.html.