U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd, D-WV, Monday announced that the U.S. Department of Justice has awarded more than $1 million in law enforcement technology grants to communities across West Virginia. These grants are provided through the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Making Officer Redeployment Effective (MORE) program.”Law enforcement agencies consistently cite technology as one of their most pressing needs. Technological advancements can lead to more efficient policing practices and can provide law enforcement officers with more time to spend patrolling the communities that they serve. Despite the potential benefits to the public, many law enforcement agencies do not have the funds to purchase these new technologies,”Byrd said.

“The COPS MORE grants, totaling more than $1 million for communities across the state, will help law enforcement officers to better serve and protect their communities. Police departments from across West Virginia credit the COPS program with giving them the flexibility they need to implement innovative crime-fighting strategies and to build stronger partnerships within the community. COPS MORE funds take crime fighting to another level through new technologies,”Byrd explained.

Grants were awarded to the Clay County Commission, $1,650; City of Fairmont, $250,000; Fayette County Sheriffs Department, $90,000; Kanawha County, $174,844; Monongalia County Sheriffs Department, $74,598; Summers County Sheriffs Department, $3,078; West Virginia University, $32,757; and City of Wheeling, $461,584.

Specifically, the grants will fund the purchase of technology and equipment that will save law enforcement officers time with clerical and administrative duties. These grants will cover up to 75 percent of the total cost of crime-fighting technologies such as mobile computing systems, personal computers, computer-aided dispatch systems, crime analysis hardware and software, automated boking and video arrraignment systems, and automated fingerprint identification systems. Time saved as a result of employing these new technologies must be used to perform community policing activities. The Omnibus Crime Bill, which passed in 1994, included an amendment Byrd added to establish the Violent Crime Reduction Trust Fund. Byrds amendment ensured that crime-fighting programs such as COPS would be funded.