By Melissa Klaric
The Herald, Sharon, Pa.
MERCER COUNTY, Pa. — Three Mercer County police departments will benefit from $345,000 in state grants.
The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency recently awarded Farrell, Sharon and Sharpsville police departments grants totaling more than $345,000 to help police track and report crime, according to Sen. Michele Brooks, R-50, Jamestown.
“These grants will help police follow crime trends, coordinate across jurisdictions and spend less time doing paperwork and more time on the streets protecting our neighborhoods,” Brooks said. “Crime reporting systems can be expensive and many smaller police departments would not be able to afford them without funding like this.”
Farrell’s grant is for more than $135,000; Sharon will benefit from a grant of more than $150,000 and Sharpsville Borough was awarded a $60,000 grant.
The grants will be used to improve the police departments’ reporting capabilities and ability to interact with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Incident-Based Reporting System. The FBI administers NIBRS, which collects and reports crime data from law enforcement agencies across the country.
Farrell police Chief Erick Gatewood said the new system will replace an outdated reporting system used to report to the national system.
“It’s a better way of reporting crimes to the federal government,” Gatewood said. “It’ll cut down on time because it integrates the reports we get from the county into our reporting system.”
The Farrell system will enable police officers to more accurately record crime incidence data, conduct crime mapping and share or retrieve information from other nationwide databases. Due to its close proximity to Ohio, access to a nationwide database is essential for local police who handle a variety of crimes.
Sharpsville’s new system will help police officers spend less time on their computers writing and filing reports and more time patrolling the community.
Funding for the grants comes from the PCCD Local Law Enforcement Support Grant Program. In addition to NIBRS updates, grants can be used to purchase vehicle cameras or body cameras for officers. Both Sharon and Farrell departments have body cameras and Sharpsville uses a dash camera system. It can also be used to pay for crisis intervention, use of force, implicit bias or de-escalation training or fund programs to enhance officer wellness, support increased diversity or enhance officer recruitment and retention.
Sharon police Chief Edward Stabile said their current records management system is more than 20 years old.
“It takes a big burden off of us,” Stabile said. “The transition is really important to us and these aging records management systems aren’t set up to do it.”
Follow Melissa Klaric on twitter @HeraldKlaric or email her at mklaric@sharonherald.com
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