Delaware’s Congressional delegation is touting $4.2 million coming to the First State for law enforcement improvement initiatives.
Gov. John Carney joined the delegation at the New Castle Police Athletic League for the announcement, and says the $1.6 million to complete purchasing over 2200 body-worn cameras for every single police officer in the state, is a huge step forward for Delaware.
“It’ll be great for police and civilian safety," Carney said. "It’ll help with accountability and it’ll address so many of the instances that we see where it’s his o against another person’s word and it just creates more confusion and upset.”
Rep. Lisa Blunt-Rochester is happy that program is receiving funding too.
“It was the voices of community members and leaders that really made this project in particular so supported,” she said.
Sen. Chris Coons says as New Castle County and Delaware State Police began rolling out cameras, the costs for storage and maintenance were higher than anticipated, and smaller agencies like Newark and Dover didn’t have a path to pay.
“With this money, we should be able to complete distributing body-worn cameras and dealing with storage costs for every officer and every agency in the state," Coons said. "That is finishing something that was already well under way and where I am expecting that annual operating grants from the state and the municipalities will sustain it.”
Another $749,000 in the federal package is to expand the New Castle County Behavioral Health Crisis Intervention Unit by hiring a peer advocate for drug abuse victims and creating a new co-responder team.
The final $1.9 million piece of funding will go to expand the Statewide Group Violence Intervention Program into Kent and Sussex County, aiming to reduce crime by 10% with coordinators who are trained to mediate potentially violent conflicts.
Coons adds that while this is a one-time grant, he would work to create a new federal funding program if these used prove promising.
