Three Vermont Law Enforcement Agencies to Receive
More Than $690,000 in COPS Grants to Improve Technology

September 27, 2001

WASHINGTON (Sept. 27) – Three Vermont law enforcement departments will receive federal grants totaling $691,415 to upgrade crime-fighting technology, according to Sen. Patrick Leahy.

The grants under the COPS Program’s Making Officer Redeployment Effective (MORE) initiative provides funding to allow law enforcement officers to increase community policing time by purchasing new equipment and updating technology. The money can be spent on mobile computing, personal computers, crime analysis hardware, automated booking, video arraignment, and automated fingerprint identification systems.

"Technology stretches the benefits and effectiveness of community policing – and community police officers," said Leahy.

The Orleans County Sheriff’s Department will use their grant of $6,423 to outfit three police cruisers with laptop computers and will buy a fourth portable computer. The $434,992 the Vermont State Police Department will receive will be used to purchase a state-wide digital photography system for identification of criminals. The South Burlington Police Department will use its award of $250,000 to buy 20 computers, a new criminal records management system and a computer-aided dispatch system.

Agencies receiving grants are required to provide at least 25 percent in matching funds.

Leahy chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, which oversees the Department of Justice and all federal law enforcement programs. The Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Program was established by Congress as part of the 1994 crime bill.