Greene County DA Wants To Give CARES Act Funding To Police Departments
By: KDKA-TV News Staff
WAYNESBURG, Pa. (KDKA) - The Greene County district attorney wants to use coronavirus relief money to fund police departments.
District Attorney David Russo is proposing using Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act funding to upgrade the law enforcement reporting system. He says the county's law enforcement offices either have outdated systems or none at all.
According to his proposal, this complies with CARES Act funding requirements because first responders "routinely face threats to their health and safety, including not only COVID-19, but also other community spread and individual illnesses."
The proposal says the new system would allow frontline workers to be "promptly alerted to potential health risk exposures" out in the field.
It would cost $200,000 up front, followed by $20,000 for "support and maintenance" in the second and third year of the contract term.
Law enforcement is an essential safety/system of our community," Russo says. "Safety systems only get better when they are funded and upgraded, not when they are defunded."
The DA says the proposal to use coronavirus relief funding to upgrade the reporting system has been approved by all law enforcement department heads and is now just waiting for approval from county commissioners.
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