South Bend Police awarded three grants

SOUTH BEND - The South Bend Police Department recently received three grants, including an awarded grant from USDA for two patrol vehicles, according to Police Chief Lucas Stigall.

"The total amount of the project is approximately $129,000, with $97,500 coming from the USDA Grant," Stigall informed. "We are very fortunate to receive this grant to help offset the cost of purchasing vehicles on our own."

The SBPD was also awarded another grant for a LiDAR unit for traffic enforcement, which has gradually replacing radar since 2000.

"We have been awarded another grant from the West Region EMS & Trauma Care Council in the amount of $2,250 to help purchase a handheld LiDAR unit," Stigall said. "After the grant funds are applied, our out-of-pocket cost is only about $350 for the $2,600 piece of equipment."

The department also received a grant from the Washington State Patrol.

"We have also been awarded another grant from the Washington State Patrol, in the amount of $13,700," Stigall said. "This will be for a live scan fingerprint machine and computer. This will benefit our department by being able to actually fingerprint defendants upon a guilty plea/verdict of crimes, which in turn will show up on the person's criminal history. We will also be able to start fingerprinting the general public for CPL's, employment purposes, and firearms dealer licenses, that we have in the past referred to the (Pacific County) Sheriff's Office to complete."

Chief Stigall added, "Kudos to Eva (Kanick, SBPD Police Clerk) for her hard work on the LiDAR and fingerprint machine grants," Stigall said. "We can now add Taser Instructor to our list of in-house instructors for the police department. Officer (Eric) Fuller completed the Taser Instructor class in Yakima this past month.
"One of our identified goals as a police department was to minimize having to count on other agencies for training," Stigall said. "We understand there are some situations we must count on other agencies, but our goal is to be as self-sufficient as we can. It makes scheduling and training easier on the department if we can do the most training in house. We are currently working towards getting Officer Dockter certified as our agency firearms instructor."

Chief Stigall also offered his department's monthly report for August for Total Calls, Traffic Stops, Ticket Arrests, and Calls for Service. Please see adjoining graph.