Recovery Act banner from DOJ website.

Ahead of tomorrow’s first anniversary of President Obama signing into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — otherwise known as the economic stimulus package –  a project from ProPublica says that the Justice Department has spent 37 percent of the more than $4 billion it was given and is processing an additional 61 percent. Just $35.6 million of the funds are still left to be allocated, according to ProPublica.

Here are DOJ’s numbers:

Spent (37 percent) – $1.499 billion
In Process (61 percent) – $2.467.4 billion
Left To Spend (less than 1 percent) – $35.6 million.

The DOJ’s percentage of funds either spent or in process was a larger percentage than all but one of the 27 departments and agencies studied by ProPublica. Only the National Endowment for the Arts — which has allocated all of its $50 million — reported a larger percentage.

The average for the 27 entities showed that 30 percent had been spent and an additional 26 percent was in process.

The act provided $2.7 billion to the Office of Justice Programs; $1 billion to the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program; $225 million to the Office on Violence Against Women; and $10 million to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to the Justice Department.

As part of a “road tour” of Obama administration officials touting the stimulus package, Attorney General Eric Holder on Friday will attend the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Commencement Ceremony in Charlotte, reports The Washington Post. Police officers hired through the COPS Hiring Recovery Program will be graduating at the ceremony.

The Department of Justice top leadership is joining Vice President Joe Biden in Philadelphia on Tuesday to hold another big press event announcing law enforcement stimulus grants, this time in the presidential battleground state of Pennsylvania.

Last month, the venue was Michigan. Read our previous report here.

Attorney General Eric Holder and Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli will represent the DOJ at the Philly news conference, where they will appear alongside embattled Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine of New Jersey. Polls show Corzine, who is running for reelection in November, trailing his Republican challenger, former New Jersey U.S. Attorney Chris Christie.

The Associated Press’s Devlin Barrett got the scoop on where the money will go in advance of the official annoucement. Barrett led with the news that New York, Seattle, Pittsburgh and Houston had been left out of the COPS program sweepstakes, in which the federal government picks up salary and benefits for local police for three years.

But we found it equally interesting that places like Mobile, Ala., and Salt Lake City, Utah, are getting COPS funds. Mobile is the home town of the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Jeff Sessions, while another Senate Judiciary Republican, Sen. Orrin Hatch, is from near Salt Lake. Both Sessions and Hatch have announced they will oppose President Obama’s nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court.

According to The AP, around 1000 localities are getting COPS money to pay for 4,699 officers.

The roughly 1,000 places getting COPS aid also include: Mobile, Ala., Mesa, Ariz., Tulare County, Calif., Monroe County, Fla., the Seminole Tribe of Florida, Baltimore, Providence, R.I., Salt Lake City, Utah, and Huntington, W.Va

Under the COPS program, the federal government pays the officers’ salary and benefits for three years, after which the local government is responsible for the costs.

Also slated to appear at Tuesday’s press conference are Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter — Democrats all. The Philadelphia police commissioner, Charles Ramsey, who is a former District of Columbia police chief, will also be there.

The $787 billion stimulus package, known as the  American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, was signed into law in February. It contained $4 billion for the Department of Justice to distribute to local and tribal law enforcement and the COPS program.

Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli highlighted today what the Justice Department has done with the Recovery Act funds it received 100 days ago.

Here’s where the money is going, according to remarks Perrelli’s prepared for a speech at National Harbor, Md.

$4 billion – State, local and tribal law enforcement, and other criminal and juvenile justice programs.

$2.7 billion – Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Program, the Byrne Competitive Grant Program, Assistance to Rural Law Enforcement to Combat Crime and Drugs, grants for Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces and grants for victim compensation and assistance.

$1.1 billion – “Agencies in need,” with almost $70 million for Maryland, Virginia and D.C.

$1 billion – To create or save 5,5000 police jobs

$225 million -  Office on Violence Against Woman to support  STOP Violence Against Women Formula Grant Program, the Transitional Housing Assistance Program, the Grants to Tribal Governments Program, and  state and tribal Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Coalitions.

“We all know that the Recovery Act is helping to stimulate the economy by directly saving and creating jobs across the country,” Perrelli said in his remarks. ” But it is also helping the economy… by making our communities safe for our fellow citizens to keep their businesses open, get to and from work, and go about their daily lives. “