Brown Announces Nearly $23 Million to Equip Local Law Enforcement, Fight Opioid Crisis | U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) announced that he secured $22,631,908 for local government and community agencies in Ohio. These investments will help Ohio law enforcement secure critical tools and equipment to keep communities safe, as well as enhance access to prevention, treatment, and recovery services for individuals with substance abuse disorders.

“Safe communities depend on well-trained and equipped law enforcement officers,” Brown said. “These awards will allow law enforcement in cities across Ohio to keep our streets safe, and are a critical investment in safety and resources for the men and women who devote their lives to protecting Ohioans.”

The U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs awarded the funds. Today, Brown hosted a conference call to discuss these critical investments, and was joined by Stark County Sheriff George Maier; Fayette County Sheriff Vernon Stanforth, current Fayette County Sheriff and former President of the National Sheriffs’ Association; Youngstown Police Chief Carl Davis; and Tim Richard, Secretary of the McKinley Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police.

“We applaud Senator Brown for his efforts with the FY2023 Edward Byrne Memorial JAG funds. This grant empowers the Stark County Sheriff’s Office with the tools and training to enhance our safety and efficacy in combating drug-related crimes here in Stark County. Our commitment to public and officer safety, as well as the pursuit of justice in overdose cases, has been significantly strengthened by this support,” said Stark County Sheriff George T. Maier.

“Federal dollars are extremely important in this era of tight law enforcement budgets. We must continue to leverage all of our resources to make law enforcement as effective as possible,” said Gary Wolske, President of the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio. “The officers in these jurisdictions will be able to use these funds to make their communities safer. We would like to thank Senator Brown and all those who worked to make these grants possible.”

Investments awarded include:

• $7,000,000 to the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services to increase connectivity to treatment and support services through community partnerships across Ohio, including funding a statewide law enforcement initiative to proactively alert healthcare professionals of the potential for overdoses in the wake of a large drug seizure, and to combine local law enforcement efforts with outreach provided by quick response teams and prevention, treatment, and recovery services.

• $2,500,000 to Cuyahoga County to investigate unsolved violent crime. This money will be used to conduct an inventory of unsolved violent crimes in the Cleveland area, identify and locate evidence from these crimes, submit evidence for forensic analysis, and investigate and prosecute forensic leads.

• $1,600,000 to Cuyahoga County to implement the Cuyahoga County Overdose Fatality Review Counteractive Initiative in order to promote coordination within the criminal justice and behavioral health systems for the identification of preventable risk factors and missed opportunities for intervention in order to reduce overdose deaths in Cuyahoga County.

• $1,600,000 to Montgomery County to implement the Continued Linkage to Hope Project, a community-wide effort to respond to the drug crisis which will enhance data sharing among partners, advance data collection and analysis, and expand the current Certified Peer Recovery Support services into the criminal justice and hospital systems.

• $1,600,000 to Hamilton County to improve responses to overdose deaths and have more real time data as it relates to next of kin interviews, and identify and support innovative community-specific overdose prevention strategies as identified by the Overdose Fatality Review Team.

• $1,600,000 to the City of Columbus to implement the Rapid Response Emergency Addiction Crisis Team (RREACT) program. The RREACT program will expand comprehensive, multi-disciplinary outreach led by first responders with the goal of stabilizing households and reducing barriers to access to drug and behavioral treatments for individuals with substance use disorder.

• $1,300,000 to the Butler County Mental Health Addiction and Recovery Services Board to increase access to addiction treatment and recovery support services for residents through the expansion of data collection.

• $1,000,000 to the Survivor Advocacy Outreach Program in Athens to serve survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking in nine counties in southeastern Ohio.

• $948,980 to Advocating Opportunity, Inc. in Lucas and Franklin Counties to support survivors of human trafficking in Ohio.

• $754,325 to the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services to provide training for forensic analysists on the most current techniques, information, and protocols when conducting forensic examinations and analyses.

• $747,290 to the City of Cleveland for personnel, technology improvements, and equipment across Cuyahoga County, Cleveland, Cleveland Heights, East Cleveland, Parma, Euclid, and Garfield Heights.

• $579,555 to the Franklin County Board of Commissioners to help Franklin County and the cities of Columbus, Reynoldsburg, and Whitehall purchase new crime scene technology and personal protective equipment for officers.

• $300,341 to the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council in Toledo to help Lucas County and the City of Toledo purchase new equipment and technology.

• $269,555 to the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services to support the Northern Ohio Violent Crime Consortium, a collaboration between the eight cities of Akron, Canton, Cleveland, Elyria, Lorain, Mansfield, Toledo, and Youngstown to provide a range of targeted responses to create safer communities.

• $266,635 to the Office of Criminal Justice Services to use evidence-based practices to help prioritize violent crime reduction efforts with the coordinated efforts among federal, state, and local law enforcement and public health agencies that can help reduce crime in the Southern District of Ohio.

• $189,467 to the City of Dayton for necessary technology and equipment upgrades for the Dayton Police Department and Montgomery County, including replacing old computers and updating the criminal justice information database.

• $120,207 to the City of Canton, to be used by the Canton Police Department and the Stark County Sheriff’s Office. The Canton Police Department will use the funds to replace existing Mobile Data Terminals that are outdated, and purchase three additional ones. The Stark County Sheriff’s Office will purchase a handheld chemical detection instrument, supplies, and training to provide safer and more reliable field testing of illicit drugs for drug-related crimes and overdose investigations, as well as medical intervention support.

• $58,999 to Butler County, to be shared by the Butler County Sheriff’s Office, the Middletown Police Department, and the Hamilton Police Department to purchase ballistic shields and a police cruiser, and pay for accreditation fees and law enforcement software annual fees.

• $45,853 to Clark County to provide both the Clark County Sheriff’s Office and the Springfield Police Department with technology improvements and equipment for law enforcement personnel, including cameras, ballistic shields, and gas masks.

• $41,185 to the City of Youngstown for the Youngstown Police Department to purchase a new front line police vehicle, and for the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office to purchase five mobile radios in order to strengthen the communications system and expand communication capabilities.

• $28,538 to Lake County to purchase a 2023 marked patrol vehicle for emergency response, police patrols, and community policing.

• $27,968 to Portage County to update outdated equipment.

• $15,712 to the City of Trotwood to purchase a cell phone extraction device and software licensing to bolster intelligence gathering during violent crime investigations.

• $15,142 to the City of Newark for technology and equipment improvements at the Newark Division of Police and the Licking County Sheriff’s Office, including new software for body worn and in-car cameras, gas masks, and other protective gear.

• $11,472 to the City of Lancaster to purchase an alcohol breath testing instrument for the detection, apprehension, and prosecution of impaired drivers.

• $10,684 to the City of North Royalton to purchase seven new body-worn cameras for the police department to cover new hires and provide a few spares in the event of failure of existing units.

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