Police to Upgrade Reporting System with JAG Grant Funds

During the Public Safety Committee report at , council members were treated to some good news from Chief Russel Bono. Chief Bono informed council that a federal Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) in the amount of $57,116 was awarded to Norristown and Pottstown. Norristown's portion comes to $37,691. Chief Bono told council that he hoped to use the funds to upgrade his department's aging records reporting system.

"It is my preference that we use the bulk of it to upgrade our Cody records management system," Chief Bono said.

According to Chief Bono, the upgraded system would allow officers to write their reports in their squad cars while still in the field. Currently officers must return to the station to write reports, sometimes by hand. Chief Bono says allowing them to write the reports in the field will "keep them active in the field and visible as a deterrent to crime." 

The upgraded system would also streamline the reporting process. Currently police reports are typed or written up by officers and the entered into the system by staff members. The new system would upload reports directly to the system and give officers in the field the ability to search for crime reports in real time.

"The cost of the infrastructure upgrade and licensing fees comes out to $32,738.42," Chief Bono said.

The remainder of the funds, some $4,900 would be used for community relations efforts.

The JAG grant is a federal program that Bono said has gradually reduced the funds it's awarded over the last few years.

"At one time it was over $100,000 dollars and now were down to [$37,000]," said Bono. "Every year it goes down by ten or fifteen thousand and more communities are eliminated [from the funding.]"

According to Bono, while this year the grant only awarded funds to Norristown and Pottstown, previous years saw as many as seven local communities receiving funds.

"One of the things the [Public Safety] committee is trying very hard to do this year and the next couple of years, given our budget constraint, is to get more efficiency out of the department, out of the system, and keep more police officers on the street," said committee chair Bill Caldwell. "We will continue to look at efficiencies in the system so we can use or police officers more wisely and keep them on the streets longer."