COLUMBUS, Ohio — A selection of enforcement agencies across Ohio, including several in Northeast Ohio, will receive a fresh sum of grant funding from the state government, Governor Mike DeWine announced on Friday.
Altogether, 16 local and state law enforcement agencies will be awarded a total of $5.7 million, the sixth round of funding from the Ohio Crime Reduction Grant Program.
In Northeast Ohio, the departments being awarded funding are the Maple Heights Police Department in Cuyahoga County, the Perkins Township Police Department in Erie County, the East Liverpool and Salem police departments in Columbiana County, Medina County's Wadsworth Police Department and the prosecutor's offices of Summit and Trumbull counties.
In total, the monies awarded to Northeast Ohio law agencies account for nearly $2.5 million of the funding round.
According to DeWine's office, the funds are meant to pay for retention bonuses for officers, recruit new officers and support other ongoing crime reduction initiatives.
“Law enforcement agencies have created innovative and strategic initiatives to prevent and disrupt crime across the state,” said DeWine. “Each agency’s needs may be slightly different, but they share a common goal of creating safer communities, and my office is proud to support them.”
State-wide, the Ohio Department of Youth Services will receive over $1.2 million to support the creation of a youth violence reduction program, including the establishment of a Community Intervention and Intelligence Unit to redirect youth who violate parole and prevent recidivism.
DeWine has ballooned the crime reduction grant program considerably this year, allocating $50 million in federal American Recovery Plan Act dollars to the program's budget last year. Before the federal windfall, its budget was $8 million -- all out of the state's operating budget -- as established by DeWine in 2021.
The program has awarded $28.7 million to 99 agencies in five previous rounds of grant funding.
The full list of grants awarded to law enforcement agencies in Northeast Ohio is below:
- East Liverpool Police Department (Columbiana County): $323,413.40
- Maple Heights Police Department (Cuyahoga County): $216,237
- Perkins Township Police Department (Erie County): $268,857.79
- Salem Police Department (Columbiana County): $159,704
- Summit County Prosecutor’s Office: $764,982.74
- Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office: $495,151.79
- Wadsworth Police Department (Medina County): $237,956