New Martinsville Police Chief Tim Cecil, Congressman Alan B. Mollohan, New Martinsville Mayor Lucille Blum, and New Martinsville Recorder Bonnie Shannon discuss a $75,000 grant the New Martinsville Police Department received that will be used primarily to upgrade communications. (Photo by Tammy Wayman)

On April 20, Congressman Alan B. Mollohan made a visit to the New Martinsville Police Department to announce to Police Chief Tim Cecil that the department will get a $75,000 Resource Grant for the purchase of law enforcement equipment.

Mollohan explained that a lot of technology is out there for Police Departments to tie in with the National Police Association and “our local communities don’t have it.” He told that he earmarked this money for the chief to spend on the New Martinsville Police Department.

Cecil said, “This will help out with our radios we use and the dead areas we have with them and each police officer can have their own desk now.”

New Martinsville Mayor Lucille Blum was also present and stressed that the police department is essential to our community. “I know this technology will help our police department,” said Blum.

Mollohan, chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee that funds the Justice Department, explained that he inserted the grant into the department’s annual spending bill, which was signed into law last month.

The equipment grant will be provided by the Justice Department’s Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program, which helps local law enforcement agencies defray the cost of equipment and staffing needed to keep their communities safe. Mollohan’s subcommittee funded the COPS program nationally at $550 million. President George W. Bush had recommended eliminating all funding this year, he noted.

“The COPS programs can be particularly important for rural police and sheriff’s departments,” Mollohan said. “The FBI reported in January that the murder rate in small towns jumped by almost 10 percent in the first half of 2008 and by almost four percent in rural counties. This is obviously not the time to be cutting back on police resources.”