Grant to help police share crime data

Police in Augusta County, Staunton and Waynesboro will use a $254,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to buy computer software to help them more quickly respond to acts of terrorism and better communicate between the three agencies, officials said Tuesday.
The money is part of $23.4 million in Homeland Security grants to Virginia localities announced by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine. The local grant is part of the law enforcement terrorism prevention program.
The grant will allow for better computer communication between the three agencies in the event of a terrorist attack, natural disaster or other catastrophe, Waynesboro police Sgt. Kelly Walker said.
Walker said another advantage of the grant is that it will allow the three agencies to have day-to-day access to one another’s records by computer.
“Right now, if I want to see that Staunton has warrants on a suspect, I have to call someone or send a teletype,’’ Walker said. “With this equipment, I can pull up the information on computer.”
Staunton police Chief Jim Williams said officers will be able to access the data on laptops in their patrol cars, a big advantage over the current system.
“The closer to real-time data you have, the better off you are,’’ Williams said.
It’s better to know someone is wanted in a neighboring jurisdiction as quickly as possible and perhaps before they are released, the chief said.
The administrator of the grant money is Augusta County.
The grant was written by Sgt. Brian Jenkins of the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office, said Augusta County Administrator Patrick Coffield.
As part of Kaine’s announcement Tuesday, Homeland Security funds will also go to Virginia localities for equipment and vehicles to detect weapons of mass destruction, preparation of shelters for mass evacuation, citizen preparedness, and for the development of a smart card system for emergency responders to gain access to a disaster area.