CLEARFIELD – The Huston Township tax collector who recently resigned has turn over her 2013 tax records, reported Clearfield County Commissioner Mark B. McCracken at yesterday’s regular meeting.
The commissioners, McCracken said, are waiting further direction from Solicitor Kim Kesner, who is currently out-of-town and who was not present at the meeting. McCracken said they still wanted to notify the public, particularly those in Huston Township, of the county’s receipt of the tax records.
In other business, the county approved submitting a concept paper for the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (JAG). The county’s Criminal Justice Advisory Board (CJAB) has identified the need for a county-wide law enforcement database to share real-time information with all police departments, said Lisa Kovalick, community development specialist.
The county, Kovalick said, will apply for $150,000 in JAG funding. She said modern advances in law enforcement have recognized increasingly more types of crime migrating across municipal boundaries. Law enforcement, Kovalick said, now requires combined technologies of disparate agencies that must cooperate across organizational and jurisdictional boundaries.
According to her, there are seven, different police departments serving many municipalities in Clearfield County. She said Clearfield and Curwensville Borough, Sandy Township and DuBois City police currently utilize the Visual Alert reporting system in their patrol vehicles. She said the Lawrence and Decatur Township and Morris-Cooper Regional police haven’t implemented the reporting system but will have that opportunity if the county’s grant gets approved.
“Municipal police departments, the county’s 911 officials and members of the CJAB agree that we need to start sharing information in order to solve crimes and to keep our communities safe,” said Kovalick. She said if approved, the data and software reporting system will be maintained at the 911 center and allow all police departments to access the information.
“It will allow for an increase in crimes being solved in each jurisdiction and prevent criminals from falling through the cracks,” added Kovalick. If approved, she said the grant will cover the purchase of hardware and software systems for municipal police who want to participate in the initiative.
If the concept paper is accepted, Kovalick said the county’s Emergency Services Director Joe Bigar will work with police departments to implement the project. She said by implementing the reporting system, it will allow police more time serving the public.