County Receives Grants for Law Enforcement Ops

Riverside County supervisors on Tuesday authorized Sheriff Stan Sniff to accept federal and state grants that his department and other public safety agencies within the county will use to combat crime and purchase equipment.

The U.S. Department of Justice awarded the county a $416,132 Bureau of Justice Assistance grant, while the California Office of Traffic Safety awarded a $1.42 million sum under its Traffic Safety Selective Traffic Enforcement Program.

According to sheriff’s officials, the department’s share of both awards in the current fiscal year totals $1.16 million.

The Justice Department grant will cover the cost of buying forensic scanners and funding at least one deputy position in the sheriff’s Fugitive Warrant Enforcement Team.

The District Attorney’s Office and the Department of Probation will utilize their share of the grant funds for other purposes.

Sheriff’s officials said the traffic safety grant will support saturation patrols, sobriety checkpoints and related field operations targeting DUI suspects over the next 12 months.

Deployments are planned in Coachella, Eastvale, Indian Wells, Jurupa Valley, La Quinta, Lake Elsinore, Menifee, Moreno Valley, Norco, Palm Desert, Perris, Rancho Mirage, San Jacinto, Temecula and Wildomar, according to sheriff’s documents.

--City News Service, photo via Shutterstock