Tewksbury Police, Emergency Communications Awarded $400K Grant

TEWKSBURY, MA — The Tewksbury Police Department and Northern Middlesex Regional Emergency Communications Center (NMRECC) received two grants totaling $405,726 to improve the police department's communications equipment.

Tewksbury police and the emergency communications center were jointly awarded a $305,726 Development Grant from the Massachusetts State 911 Department. These funds were used to complete a major radio system infrastructure upgrade designed to bring the agency up to federal standards with public safety radio interoperability requirements, according to a statement.

“This grant is a major component of the Regional Communications Center and the reason why NMRECC exists today," NMRECC Executive Director Kevin Lessard said in a statement. "It has helped bring significant upgrades and improvements to the public safety of the communities and partner first responders that our telecommunicators interact with day in and day out."

Police and the emergency communications center also received a $100,000 state grant which will pay for 24 new radios in Tewksbury police cruisers.

"I am pleased we were able to secure this large amount of grant funding to make significant improvements to our communications equipment, all without adding any burden to the taxpayers of Tewksbury," Chief Ryan Columbus said in a statement. "I would also like to thank our statehouse delegation — Sen. Barry Finegold, Rep. Tram Nguyen, Rep. David Robertson and Rep. Vanna Howard — for helping us to secure the $100,000 grant."