Lavonia, Royston PD’s Receive $10,000 State Grant

Two local law enforcement agencies are the recipients of a $10,000 equipment grant from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.

Lavonia Police Chief Bruce Carlisle said he was contacted last Friday about the award.

Carlisle said the grant will come in handy to purchase some new equipment for his department.

“We have received this grant several times in the past,” Carlisle said. “The grant will be used for any technology equipment that is used for traffic enforcement in the City of Lavonia.”

The Royston Police Department also received a $10,000 grant from GOHS.  Police Chief Donnie Boleman said the money will be used to purchase some high-tech cameras for his officers.

“We are working to equip all of our officers with body cameras and we will finish buying those for officers who have not yet been equipped with one,” Boleman said. “We still have some patrol units that have not yet been equipped with digital patrol cameras. And we are also looking to upgrade some of our radar equipment.”

According to their Web site, the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety administers grant funding for various programs that address 11 national traffic safety priority areas, such as impaired driving, police traffic services, and speed control.

Funding for these grants is allocated to Georgia GOHS and other states annually from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) using a formula based on population and road mileage.

GOHS then awards the funding to state and local safety-related agencies as “seed” money for the development and implementation of programs that address traffic safety problem areas or expand ongoing activities in safety priority areas.