Grant helps fund police efforts
Joseph Harvie
The township Police Department received $210,000 in grants this year that will be used to buy police motorcycles, replace bulletproof vests, help prevent terrorist attacks and put more officers on the road.
"I made a commitment to pursue funding at all levels of government in order to enhance our ability to improve the quality of life in South Brunswick," said Police Chief Raymond Hayducka.
The police announced the grant money on Monday, a week before it will use a $19,000 aggressive driving grant it received from the state, said South Brunswick Police spokesman Detective James Ryan said.
Detective Ryan said the grant will be used to get more officers on the road at different times of day to enforce "a variety of traffic-related offenses," associated with aggressive driving.
Among the other grants the township received was a $73,000 highway safety grant from the state Department of Transportation that will be used to purchase two motorcycles, Detective Ryan said.
The township also received about $59,000 from the Department of Homeland Security that will be used to "enhance physical security," Detective Ryan said. He said that he could not elaborate on this grant because of security reasons.
"We are specifically being vague about this one because of the nature of the grant," Detective Ryan said.
In addition, the police 911-dispatch center will be upgraded through a state grant of more than $37,000, Detective Ryan said.
"It will be used to get a new dispatch system that will help us correlate information better and quicker," Detective Ryan said. "It will also enhance our ability to respond to situations. The system we have is older and we need to upgrade that."
The township also replaced bulletproof vests through a state grant of more than $10,000, Detective Ryan said.
"Every five years a vest needs to be replaced," Detective Ryan said. ‘We already paid to replace some of the vests and this replaced the money we spent."
The township also received two DOT grants, totaling more than $10,000, that were used earlier in the year used to pay overtime costs to get more officers on direct patrols, Detective Ryan said.
The first, which was more than $6,000, was used to increase DWI patrols in the evenings and on the weekends.
The other, which was more than $4,000, was used for seat belt law enforcement during the state’s Click it or Ticket program in June, Detective Ryan said.
Chief Hayducka said that the grants represent a 70 percent increase from 2005. Chief Hayducka said he would continue to look for outside cash to offset police spending.
"We will remain vigilant in our attempts to secure any funding to better serve our community," Chief Hayducka said.

