The Johnstown Police Department received a grant for $250,000 to upgrade technology for police officers.
Wednesday morning, police received the grant to purchase ten in-car cameras, 14 mobile office tables and new police cruisers.
The technology will help officers work more efficiently in the field. Police Chief Robert Johnson said that means faster response times and a safer city.
“Having that in every car, now every officer will be able to write his reports and create electronic citations, those type of things,” said Chief Johnson.
Lee Initiatives and the 1889 Foundation donated $50,000 each. The Community Foundation for the Alleghenies donated $150,000.
“Since our mission is health and wellness of the region, nothing fits that mission better than to help improve the safety of the residents,” said John Reed, the CEO of Lee Initiatives.
Chief Johnson pushed for the upgrade since he was hired in June.
“When I got here, it wasn’t that what he had was bad, it was what we had didn’t exist,” Chief Johnson said.
The chief also said the new technology will help officers gather evidence.
“In today’s policing world, if you don’t have the cameras, you’re losing evidence. We need one in every car, because there’s so much evidence to be captured when you’re responding to things,” said Chief Johnson.
The philanthropies plan to seek matching grant funds from the state to provide the police department with even more tools to protect and serve.
