ST. JOHNS, Mich. (WLNS) — The Bureau of Justice Assistance will award the St. Johns Police Department a grant for body-worn cameras. This is part of a group of awards being made to small, rural and tribal law enforcement agencies for body-worn cameras.
“Probably the last two years we’ve been considering trying to find a time that works for us and budget for that same thing and those expenses have been a little bit of a challenge for us,” St. Johns Police Department David Kirk said. “We always are worried about contemporary best practices, making sure that we are accountable to the people that we serve. This takes steps in that direction. it’s also a great training tool for our department, we’re able to review those, and make improvements in our performances.”
The bureau will provide $7.1 million to 265 agencies across 44 states. These awards are in addition to the over $10 million that was awarded in 2022 for body-worn cameras to small, rural and tribal law enforcement agencies.
“The St. Johns Police Department strives to align its operations with contemporary best practices. This award will make it possible for our agency to provide a higher level of transparency, accountability and safety to the citizens of St. Johns,” says Chief David Kirk, St. Johns Police Department.
Bureau of Justice Assistance Director Karhlton F. Moore says body-worn cameras are “a vital tool for law enforcement agencies to increase accountability and build trust with the communities they serve.”
The bureau selected Justice & Security Strategies, Inc. to administer a competitive micro-grant program to law enforcement agencies seeking to initiate or expand a body-worn camera program and provide customized training and technical assistance to recipients.
The department received a micro-grant of $22,000 and its staff of ten officers are now able to wear cameras clipped to their vests. “It’s kind of narrowly focused on small rural departments which makes it available for us. A lot of times, some of the parameters of the grants we don’t meet what those metrics are but this one, because of its focus, makes it eligible,” Kirk said.
Kirk added that they can get up to eleven cameras and hope to have them on and recording shortly. “We’re still making our final proposals to the city commission on a few different vendors and once we make that decision,” Kirk said. “We’re hoping to be able to do it in that 90-day timeframe.”
For more information about the body-worn camera micro-grant program and a list of the agencies receiving funds, visit the Small, Rural and Tribal Body-Worn Camera website.
