CLEARFIELD – The Lawrence Township Board of Supervisors approved, 2-1, for it to be included in the county’s Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) concept paper that proposes modernizing the information sharing technology for seven municipal police departments in Clearfield County.
Lisa Kovalick, who is the county’s planning and community development specialist, said they’re applying for $213,000 that would be used for Innovation in Technology and Information Sharing for the police departments. If approved, she said the county would have computer equipment installed in police department vehicles in Lawrence and Decatur townships and at Morris-Cooper Regional.
She said the Lawrence and Decatur township police departments would also be getting computers at their stations. She said the police departments in Clearfield and Curwensville boroughs, Sandy Township and DuBois City already have compatible computers and software.
Second, Kovalick said the county would set up a server that would allow all seven police departments to communicate in real time. In the future, she said it would allow local police departments to access state information.
She said the county must submit its concept paper by Feb. 5, meaning the supervisors had to decide at Tuesday’s meeting. She said that the township wasn’t required to participate.
However, Kovalick said if the county received the grant, it might not be available again in the future. She said at that point, the township would be left paying $38,481 for the computer equipment, which would be provided at no cost through the current JAG grant.
Pending future grants and decisions, she said the township would need to spend between $3,090 and $5,490 annually after the first year for licensing agreements.
Supervisors Edward Brown and William Lawhead wanted to speak with the police department for further input. Unable to do so, Lawhead and Supervisor Glenn Johnston voted in favor of participating in the JAG grant. Brown voted against the same.
The supervisors had other concerns about the JAG grant, which included the costs of replacing the hardware, not covered under the annual service fee. In addition, they noted there had been requests from the police department for dashboard video cameras.