Greenwood Police Chief Henry Purnell has been on a roll lately with federal law enforcement assistance grants.
On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., announced that Greenwood had received a $17,268 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance grant for the purchase of narrow-band radios and reflective safety vests.
Purnell, who has previously received federal grants for narrow-band radios, said there’s a good reason for the upgrade: The state is going to narrow-band radios in January 2013.
“Our old radios will be obsolete,” he said.
Last year, Purnell received funding to equip 20 patrol cars with narrow-band radios. He also purchased 30 portable models, which can be carried by officers.
The chief said the new grant will enable the department to complete the transition to narrow-band radios.
“We always need new equipment. We’re trying to make sure we’re on top of it. We need them to complete our fleet,” he said.
Purnell said the funds will be available at the start of the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. At that time, he’ll order the new radios.
Greenwood’s grant was one of 16 awards for law enforcement announced Tuesday. They total $2.24 million.
The largest of the grants is a $1.99 million award to the Mississippi Division of Public Safety Planning to help state and local law enforcement combat illegal drug and violent crime activities by interdiction and activities statewide. Among other things, the funding is intended to support multi-jurisdictional drug task force programs.
Purnell said the North Central Narcotics Task Force is just one law enforcement agency that will be aided by that grant.
The chief said he is awaiting action on a federal bullet-resistant vest grant request he has already submitted. He is also pursuing a Department of Homeland Security grant for the purchase of four vehicles for use by the department’s Detective Division.
Last year’s application for the vehicles didn’t happen simply because of a lack of funding, Purnell said.
The chief said securing the grants helps his department without dipping into precious city funds.
He is still hoping he can find a federal grant to pay for the $1.5 million renovation of police headquarters.
• Contact Bob Darden at 581-7239 or bdarden@gwcommonwealth.com.
