Story by Morgan Pemberton
ST. ALBANS, W.Va. — The St. Albans Police Department will be receiving much needed funding to improve technology and to help with the purchase of newer technology.
U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito announced on December 3, that she was able to secure a Congressionally Directed Spending award from the U.S. Department of Justice for $150,000.
Capito in a news release said “I worked closely with leaders in St. Albans to secure this funding to equip the city’s law enforcement officers with the best possible tools to protect and serve residents. This particular CDS award will ensure that police officers have the tools they need to prevent and address crimes while meeting the highest ethical standards. As a member of the CJS Appropriations Subcommittee, I will continue to work with our local partners to make sure our communities have the resources they need to be kept safe and secure.”
St. Albans Police Chief Marc Gilbert said that the department is grateful for the funding and knew one thing they were going to purchase when they received the funding.
“When we got this opportunity, the one thing we really wanted to purchase, and people don’t understand the cost, were body camera’s for law enforcement,” Gilbert said.
The funding will also help purchase in-car camera’s, mobile traffic camera’s and an emergency messaging marquee.
He said that while purchasing the actual camera’s wont be much, the maintenance of them will be.
“But, you also have to be able to back that footage up, you have to be able to secure that footage up, you have to have policy and procedure on how long you’ll maintain video, when do the camera’s have to be on when can you turn them off,” Gilbert said. “There’s a lot that goes into body worn camera’s.”
The purchase of the body worn camera’s and other equipment will help transparency between law enforcement and the public.
He also said that it will help with maintaining a level of professionalism.
“To be able to make this purchase with funds from that honestly the money in the city budget needs to go elsewhere, I think this will just improve, which I believe the St. Albans Police Department is professional but these body camera’s will just help ensure that,” Gilbert said.