Philly police, district attorney, SEPTA to get $50M from state to help fight gun violence

Pa. awards $170 million to over 220 law enforcement agencies and district attorneys' offices
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw
Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw speaks at Mill Creek Playground in West Philadelphia on Thursday about state grants to fight gun violence and support the city's law enforcement. Photo credit Antionette Lee/KYW Newsradio

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The city is getting a major boost to fight gun violence and support law enforcement, city and state officials announced Thursday, thanks to two new state grant programs. Philadelphia is getting $50 million, a large portion of which will go to forensic science and a new lab that police officials say will help increase the rate of success in solving cases.

Pa. Sen. Vincent Hughes, state Rep. Joanna McClinton, Mayor Jim Kenney and Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw lauded the investment in the Police Department, the district attorney’s office and SEPTA as an all-hands-on-deck approach.

They were gathered for the announcement at the Mill Creek Playground recreation center in West Philadelphia, where Parks and Recreation employee Tiffany Fletcher, 41, was caught in the middle of gunfire and killed last summer. They paused for a moment of silence in her honor.

The money will be split three ways: $25 million for the police, $20 million for the district attorney’s office and nearly $5 million for SEPTA.

“This grant funding will change the way the city approaches forensic analysis and solves crime,” said Commissioner Danielle Outlaw.

Outlaw said the funds will be used to improve infrastructure and hire 120 additional forensic scientists to bolster the department’s Forensic Science Center, which she said has been significantly understaffed and lacking in resources.

“Like most crime labs in the country, the [Office of Forensic Science] does not have the staff or facility large enough for the volume of submitted evidence, causing backlogs and delays in analysis, and the current Forensic Science Center is approximately 1/3 the size needed for the city's investigative requirements,” Outlaw said. “Over the last two years, the PPD has worked with city officials to expand resources within the OFS, increasing automation, purchasing new instruments and hiring staff to fill vacancies.”

She said the funding will take the department’s efforts to the next level.

“Plainly put, forensic science, when properly resourced, assists the PPD in exonerating the innocent, uncovering serial patterns, identifying perpetrators, providing a name to an unidentified victim, solving a crime. … This grant will allow those things to happen more often, and more quickly.”

A statewide investment in public safety

Over 220 Pennsylvania law enforcement agencies and county district attorneys’ offices have been awarded $170 million in state grants from two new initiatives, the Local Law Enforcement Services and Gun Violence Investigation & Prosecution programs.

Through the LLES program, 197 law enforcement agencies were awarded a total of $120 million; and through the GVIP program, 29 county district attorneys’ offices and local law enforcement agencies were awarded a total of $50 million.

“These grant programs are one more tool in our toolbox to create safer communities across Pennsylvania,” said Gov. Tom Wolf, in a statement released by the governor’s office. “With adequate resources, our local law enforcement and investigative offices can better protect and serve.”

According to the statement, the LLES program provides law enforcement agencies with resources to make improvements to IT and equipment, and to cover the costs of recruitment, hiring, training and retention of personnel.

The GVIP program is designed to give county district attorneys’ offices and local law enforcement agencies more tools to investigate and prosecute violent gun crimes and violations. The grant can be spent on improving task forces and covering personnel costs and improvements to technology and software to aid in investigations and prosecutions.

Wolf says he secured funding for both programs in his final budget as a means of working with individual localities throughout the commonwealth in the absence of statewide legislation on gun violence prevention.

Both programs are administered by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency.

Priority consideration for the grants was given to agencies in jurisdictions with the highest rates of violent crime. In particular, the LLES program was required to prioritize agencies struggling with a relatively low ability to solve crimes. The GVIP program required that 10% of its funding go to agencies in rural communities.

LLES recipients in suburban Philadelphia

Bucks County
—Bedminster Township, $242,467
—Bristol Township, $525,164
—Central Bucks Regional Police Department, $515,793
—Falls Township, $125,200
—Lower Makefield Township, $68,371
—New Hope Borough, $89,793
—Pennridge Regional Police Department, $648,406
—Plumstead Township, $144,049
—Yardley Borough, $70,915

Chester County
—Oxford Borough, $77,271
—Phoenixville Borough, $338,489
—South Coatesville Borough, $30,000
—West Goshen Township, $43,289
—Westtown Township, $821,650

Delaware County
—Chester City, $2,838,427
—Collingdale Borough, $208,444
—Glenolden Borough, $242,000
—Lansdowne Borough, $119,000
—Marcus Hook Borough, $125,301
—Norwood Borough, $120,000
—Prospect Park Borough, $150,672
—Radnor Township, $9,200
—Upper Chichester Twp, $215,475
—Upper Darby Township, $2,238,231

Montgomery County
—Cheltenham Township, $228,588
—Hatboro Borough, $205,447
—Jenkintown Borough, $267,664
—Lansdale Borough, $134,350
—Lower Pottsgrove Township, $130,000
—Norristown Municipality, $229,000
—Pottstown Borough, $403,761
—Upper Pottsgrove Township, $152,000
—West Pottsgrove Township, $44,507

GVIP recipients in suburban Philadelphia

Bucks County Commissioners, $3,079,328

Chester County Commissioners, $449,264

Delaware County
—Darby Borough, $99,000
—Delaware County Executive Director, $1,003,127

A complete list of grants is available at PA.gov.

Featured Image Photo Credit: Antionette Lee/KYW Newsradio