STAR CITY — Residents of Star Metropolis will quickly see some new police cruisers on the road due to a grant the city acquired from the Division of Justice (DOJ).
The $278,730 grant was a part of the DOJ Rural and Small Division Violent Crime Discount Program, which helps rural communities of their efforts to fight violent crime.
Star Metropolis Police Chief Jessica Colebank wrote the grant proposal and was completely happy to listen to Star Metropolis was chosen as one in all solely 200-300 departments nationally to obtain the funding.
“I simply took a shot at the hours of darkness and mentioned ‘Hey, let’s attempt for this as a result of we’d like some new automobiles,’” Colebank mentioned. “They’re nearly to the purpose the place they’re spending extra money to get them fastened than they’re on the highway.”
Colebank mentioned they’re hoping to buy 4 new automobiles that will probably be totally police outfitted and outfitted for the highway and patrol or something officers want.
“We’ve got police cruisers now,” Colebank mentioned, “however with know-how advancing and all the pieces like that it’s exhausting to maintain up.”
Very like good telephones and different units the place you purchase the most recent model and immediately there’s two newer fashions the second you purchase it, Colebank mentioned police work is way the identical.
“We’ve got to maintain up with know-how and these older automobiles aren’t constructed to deal with that know-how, so we’ve got to improve,” she defined.
Colebank estimated that only a automotive alone could possibly be round $43,000 with an extra $15,000-$20,000 as soon as it’s outfitted with the correct gear. A automobile outfitted for Abel, the division’s Okay-9 officer, would add round one other $5,000.
“You’re taking a look at $70,000 per automobile, simply,” Colebank estimated.
The chief mentioned this was her first enterprise into grant writing and it was an eye-opening expertise.
“It’s a must to put within the time, it’s a must to put within the work and say, ‘We wish that funding, and for this reason we would like it,’” she mentioned. “These aren’t carried out in at some point; this took months of analysis and drafts … making an attempt to determine write this.”
“I can’t thank her sufficient for it,” mentioned Star Metropolis Mayor Sharon Doyle. “She did lots of this work on her personal time and she or he labored exhausting. We’re actually lean within the grant-writing useful resource pool, however we’re hopeful to get that shifting ahead so we will apply for extra grants for the city. As for this one specifically, it’s enormous for Star Metropolis. Jessica outdid herself on this one.”
Colebank mentioned there are nonetheless some hoops to leap by to get the funding, however as soon as that’s carried out, they need to see the cash come by within the subsequent few months.
“Whereas we obtained the award letter saying congratulations,” she mentioned, “there’s nonetheless lots of work to be carried out.”
A type of issues will probably be constructing a stronger reference to the group by a survey that may assist pinpoint downside areas within the city and the place residents suppose legislation enforcement is on response to these issues.
“Is it medicine in your neighborhood, neighbor disputes, what can we assist with? Neighborhood involvement is vital to this,” Colebank mentioned.
The division hopes to obtain the funding someday within the subsequent few months and is hoping to have the brand new cruisers on the highway by Jan. 1, nevertheless that may depend upon when the funding is acquired and the supply of police cruisers at the moment.
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