LONGVIEW, Texas (KETK) – The Longview Police Department asked City Council to approve application for five state grants. This will help officers better serve people in the city.
Each grant is up to $100,000 and two of the grants will help replace old equipment that is used on daily patrols.
“The cameras for example are well utilized for crime scenes and they would like some new updated cameras that are more reliable,” said Laura Hill, Director of grants and Human services.
The department will also use the money for new body armor to protect officers in the field. This will keep tax dollars for other needs in the community.
“As you can imagine it’s quite expensive so any little bit we can get from grants helps save the tax payer dollars and we don’t have to budget to replace that same safety equipment,” said Hill.
“Partners in Prevention” youth mentor program is hoping for a $20,000 grant.
“It would go for training materials for the mentors , supplies, staff to keep everything organized. We nearly have 100 mentors and mentees so you can imagine keeping that many schedules of peoples going is quite challenging,” said Hill.
All of the grants are being offered by the office of the governor. In November of last year, 355-million dollars were made available for public safety.