The Guilford County Sheriff’s Department is one of several local law enforcement agencies that’s receiving the US Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance federal funding grants; and the department is using the funds – nearly $80,000 – to acquire new technology meant to combat active shooter situations and improve the safety of Guilford County citizens in other ways.

 These grant funds are designed to let law enforcement agencies across the country purchase equipment that those agencies couldn’t otherwise afford and that isn’t part of their normal budget.

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners is expected to approve the Sheriff’s Department’s use of the money for all of its requested purposes on Thursday, April 4.

The department will receive $79,326, which it will, in part, use to help enhance its Real Time Crime Center.  These types of Crime Centers use a wide range of modern technology – such as collated live video streams, phone data and electronic intelligence – to respond very quickly to crimes that are in progress or that just took place.

The Sheriff’s Department will also use some of the money to train deputies in the best ways to respond to those who are armed threats in public or who are engaged in mass shootings.

In addition, some of the funds will go toward replacing outdated camera equipment now in Sheriff’s Department vans used to transport inmates.

Other money from the grant will be used for training the Sheriff’s Emergency Response Team – essentially its  SWAT team – as well as to beef up the abilities of the department’s Underwater Recovery Team, which sometimes has to find evidence or bodies underwater.

Some of the grant money will also be used to enhance the Sheriff’s Department’s undercover surveillance efforts.

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