The Byrnes Mill Police Department has been awarded a $17,233 grant from the toXcel company for public safety equipment designed to deter people from driving while under the influence of drugs.
“Anytime we can get equipment like this and that doesn’t come out of my budget is a huge win for the department,” Police Chief Frank T. Selvaggio said. “Grants like this really help the small departments out. The grant system is very difficult to get through, and a lot of these larger departments have specialized units that all they do is write grants. Small departments are kind of at a disadvantage with that.”
The Police Department used the funds to buy a SoToxa Mobile Test System, which costs $4,900 and is used to help determine if a driver is impaired. Four packages containing 25 replacement cartridges for the machine will cost $2,740.
“The SoToxa machine is really big with impaired drivers,” Capt. Steve Schaffer said. “It allows us to conduct roadside tests if we see signs of drug use. We swab their mouth, stick the swab in the machine and it tells us if they’re on something and what they’re on. The evidence is admissible in court.”
Selvaggio said he’s thankful for the grant. “It’s a very expensive piece of equipment, so we wouldn’t normally be able to afford this,” he said. “This grant will pay the full price of one of those.”
The grant also allows for the purchase of portable driver’s license scanners for a total of $2,593, according to city documents.
“They are computers (that go in cars) for scanning things like driver’s licenses,” Selvaggio said.
“It will automatically fill all the information in for the officers.”
Schaffer said the scanners may cut a 10- to 15-minute traffic stop in half. Once the license is scanned, he said the information is automatically entered into the police vehicle’s computer. Before, they had to enter the information manually.
Six police car printers will be purchased for a total of $5,000.
The grant will also pay $2,000 for the interface program for the Livescan fingerprint system at the Byrnes Mill Police Station.
Similar to the license scanner, the fingerprint system will automatically upload information about a person, streamlining the detainment process, Schaffer said.
“The quicker we are and more efficient we are, the more we can be out on the road,” he said.
Schaffer said the equipment had been ordered, and the department spent all but 50 cents of the $17,233 grant.
He said the grant program will reimburse the city for the purchase of the equipment within two to four weeks.
“Steve (Schaffer) has a very long, well-known contact with another police department that participated in these grants a couple of different times and they never had a problem with these being paid immediately,” Selvaggio said.
“It’s harder and harder for us to get the grants that we need,” he said. “We’re always looking for grants like this.”
Selvaggio said Schaffer was instrumental in organizing the grant application and receiving the award.
The Byrnes Mill Board of Alderpersons voted 4-0 to approve the grant application at the Sept. 20 meeting. The meeting was originally intended to be a workshop session for the board but was converted to a regular session. Ward 3 Alderperson Cindy Davies and Ward 1 Alderperson Glenn LaVenture were absent from the meeting.
Schaffer said toXcel provided the grant in conjunction with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.