Cops net $150,000 in grants

By Joe Pinchot
Herald Staff Writer

HERMITAGE February 24, 2008 10:37 pm

— Hermitage police have received a number of grants for themselves and Mercer County organizations to help with investigations, provide special tactical training and continue programs aimed at making the roads safer.
Chief Patrick B. McElhinny said the department is always looking for grant opportunities, and officers within his department have been willing to handle or help with administration and paperwork.
“It’s just about being aware and being a bulldog trying to get it,” he said.
Seven grants have dollar values of about $150,000, and cover the cost of training, equipment and salaries.
Two of the grants allow the department to continue traffic initiatives. They are:
• The Smooth Operator program, which is aimed at making safer areas where traffic accidents have resulted in serious accidents by cracking down on aggressive driving. In March, July, August and September, police flooded streets and issued more than 850 citations for speeding, careless driving, running red lights and other traffic violations. The second PennDOT-funded program will provide about $20,000, which is the same as last year, McElhinny said.
• Buckle Up PA, which allows the department to hold education and enforcement programs aimed at getting people to use seat belts and child safety seats. Two policemen have been trained and certified as child passenger safety technicians and can check and install child safety seats. Child safety seats can be checked by appointment by calling the department at 724-983-6780. Checkpoints will be held later in the year. The department received about $5,600 last year, and expects the same amount this year.
Hermitage is taking the lead with these countywide initiatives:
• The department is grant coordinator of the Mercer County DUI Task Force, which has looked for impaired drivers. PennDOT is providing $55,832 for 2008, enough to hold 10 checkpoints and 15 roving patrols.
• The department also took a lead role in creating the Mercer County Critical Incident Response Team, which is trained to handle hostage situations, snipers and high-risk arrests. A grant has been secured from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to provide 40 hours of training for 28 team members in April from the National Tactical Officers Association, a nonprofit organization. The grant is worth about $20,000, and the training sessions on tactical issues, such as building entry, and weapons of mass destruction will be held locally. “That one took me two years to get,” McElhinny said.
These grants were awarded for equipment:
• The U.S. Army is providing a Bullard TacSight thermal imager that will allow police to see heat signatures of people and objects at night and in fog and smoke. Police could use it to find hiding suspects and missing people, and identify fresh footprints. As part of the grant, a policeman will be sent for training on the imager’s use, and he will teach the rest of the department. While Hermitage Volunteer Fire Department has a thermal imager and has made it available to police, the new unit is designed specifically for law enforcement personnel, and will be more readily available when needed, McElhinny said. The device should be in by April. The grant is worth $8,000 to $10,000.
• The U.S. Office of National Drug Control is providing what is a known as a forensic tool kit, a computer system to analyze computers, cellular telephones and other digital storage devices. Investigators will be trained in March, and the system will be delivered afterward. McElhinny said his department has sent electronic devices to state police for testing, but the forensic tool kit will allow his policeman to do more in-house. Other local departments will be able to submit electronic devices for testing, he said. The grant is worth about $25,000.
• The state Department of Community and Economic Development supplied a $15,000 grant to replace investigative materials held in the major crime unit van, and buy new equipment for the van. Hermitage police take the van and its equipment beyond the city’s borders to help investigate suspected murder scenes and other major crime scenes.