Bedford County Sheriff's Office Grants
The Bedford County Sheriff’s Office, under the
direction of Sheriff Mike Brown, has long been known as a progressive
and well-equipped department by many surrounding jurisdictions.
In 1998, Bedford County was one of the first counties
in the state to have full-time deputies in our high schools. Through
grants from the Office of Justice and Juvenile Delinquency Prevention, a
BCSO School Resource Officer program was developed. Now, every middle
school and high school in Bedford County is staffed with a certified,
full-time deputy who is available before, during and after school hours,
to students, their parents, teachers and administrators.
BCSO was also one of the first in the area to equip
cruisers with Mobile Data Terminals for immediate information gathering
and communication directly with the dispatch center.
To enhance protection of citizens as well as the
officer, funding was obtained for In-Car Cameras, now in every road
cruiser. Traffic stops, pursuits and numerous incidents are recorded
during the deputy’s tour of duty taped and cataloged for later review if
necessary.
How does BCSO do all this? It all
sounds so expensive! You’re right, it is
very expensive and most agencies can not afford to purchase such
equipment out of their yearly budget.
What many citizens are not aware of is; BCSO is able
to obtain this state-of-art equipment through state and federal grants
which are applied for, and handled by a full-time BCSO staff member. In
2006, BCSO received over $300,000 in grants, which included equipment,
overtime funds for deputies, records management hardware, educational
programs schools and bullet proof vests.
Here is a short summary of grants received by BCSO in
2006:
DMV – Land/Water DUI Suppression to
be used for special enforcement targeting drunk drivers on Bedford
County roads and drunk boaters on Smith Mountain Lake. BCSO boat patrol
members are also asked to assist Game Wardens on their boats. These DMV
grant funds are used to pay BCSO deputy salaries while on these special
assignments.
DMV – BCSO qualifies special event
funding through DMV, such as holiday enforcement. BCSO participated in
the Memorial Day Strike Force which was a state-wide initiative for DUI
enforcement during the long holiday weekend.
Central VA Highway Transportation Board
– BCSO is a member of this regional effort to enforce safe driving,
seatbelt usage and proper child safety seat installation.
Multi-jurisdictional events are held to help communities on a regional
basis. BCSO’s certified child safety seat installers and inspectors will
work with Bedford City PD, Campbell County Sheriff’s Office, Lynchburg
City PD, and others in different locations to provide optimal staffing
for the best possible service to the citizens throughout the region.
Bullet Proof Vests – Officer
protection is of the utmost importance to BCSO. However, supplying all
road officers with bullet proof vests can be an extremely costly
endeavor. The Bureau of Justice Assistance understands this hardship and
every year offers competitive funding opportunities to aid agencies
handle the high cost of vests. What most people don’t realize is, bullet
proof vests have a “shelf life” and need to be replaced at least every 5
years, preferably every 4 years for optimal officer protection. Every
BCSO deputy is equipped with a bullet proof vest, worn under their
uniform.
The US Department of Justice funds many completive
initiatives for law enforcement.
The JAG grant was
awarded to BCSO for summons printers in the police vehicles, to be used
in conjunction with the Mobil Data Terminals. BCSO was one of two
counties chosen in the state to test this new method of issuing
summonses while making traffic stops. This program will be going state
wide in 2007 and 2008.
The G.R.E.A.T. Program (Gang
Resistance Education And Training) has become an extremely popular
educational program throughout the state of Virginia. BCSO has been
teaching this self-esteem boosting, character building program since
2005 and have enjoyed the positive reaction from students and their
teachers and parents too. G.R.E.A.T. is a violence prevention curriculum
and a life-skills competency program designed to provide students with
the skills they need to avoid gang pressure and youth violence. Funding
has been received in 2006 for use over the next 3 years to continue to
promote the program in middle and high schools, further plans to include
the elementary schools. Planned for summer is GREAT COPS Camp where kids
spend a week of team building, physical endurance training to build self
confidence and expand communications skills. Deputies are certified as
G.R.E.A.T. instructors and Youth Councilors are also utilized during the
camp, who go through a week long training before the camp begins. This
program is designed to encourage positive relationships between the
community, parents, schools and law enforcement and most importantly,
strengthen the self-esteem of Bedford’s youth so they can more easily
stand up to peer pressure and not fall victim to gang association and
violence.
C-SORT – Child Sex Offender
Registration and Tracking – The state of Virginia has made great strides
in enforcing the registration of sex offenders. However, local law
enforcement must rely upon the Virginia State Police Sex Offender
Registry for information regarding convicted sex offenders. Access to
this information is limited, at best, as it can only be accessed via the
Internet. Thus, there is no readily available information regarding
convicted sex offenders to officers in the field. In the event of a
missing child or any other matter regarding a child, sheriff’s personnel
have no readily available information regarding convicted sex offenders
who may reside in the area of the incident. This funding enables the
Sheriff’s office to increase the accountability of convicted sex
offenders through regular and consistent monitoring of sex offenders via
personal visits by law enforcement. All convicted offenders residing in
Bedford County and City will be identified, verified that they are
properly registered, will be entered into BCSO’s database that includes
information regarding their appearance, updated photographs, employment,
vehicle identification, family history, current legal status, etc. It is
anticipated that the increased accountability placed upon the convicted
sex offenders will prevent crime through their reduced involvement in
criminal activity as well as reduce sex offender recidivism due to the
projects increased supervision of this class of criminal. BCSO's C-SORT unit is under the supervision of Chief Gary Reynolds, Retd.,
Special Assistant to the Sheriff.
Department of Homeland Security recently awarded BCSO
with a sizable, 100% funded grant that is being utilized for the Reverse
911 project. Reverse 911 allows public safety officials to send recorded
message via telephone to thousands of homes in the even t of an
emergency or significant event; i.e. – chemical spill, forest fire,
severe weather alerts, sexual offender or predator alerts, missing
persons alert, etc. Testing is currently in process now and the system
will be fully functional by early 2007.
The 2007/2008 Grant year has just begun. Updates will
be announced as grants are awarded.
Below is pictured an example of a vehicle obtained
through a grant related activity.
Submitted by Robin
Sundquist, BCSO Grant Writer
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