SIERRA VISTA, Ariz. (KGUN) — The Sierra Vista Police Department received $115,472 in grant money to help with border security measures and public safety here in the city. The grant money will be used to purchase a drone, a canine officer, and license plate readers.
"For our guys on the street, it really helps them to have more confidence in the processes of how we're doing things,” said Patrol Bureau Commander, William Heiple, about the new resources.
The grant from the Arizona Department of Public Safety's Local Border Support grant program, designed to help law enforcement affected by activity at the border.
“We put in for the local border support grant because of the fact that we had seen such a significant increase in border-related crimes occurring in Sierra Vista,” Heiple said. “We obviously needed more resources to be able to help combat that, and so we went ahead and I did some research.”
The license plate readers will help law enforcement find cars that are connected to crimes, including cars that don't stop for a traffic stop. Heiple says the cameras will not be used for regular traffic violations or stops, just to help find cars during silver alerts and other crimes.
"There's other agencies around that have those and are very instrumental in being able to track where vehicles are, where they've traveled, but they can be used for not only just for the border-related crimes, but also if we have local crimes,” he said. “It just gives us a better opportunity to help serve the public and our community better so we can keep our community safer. That's our goal."
Sierra Vista Police Department had K9s two years ago, now the department is down to one. Heiple says the K9s are a tool that helps them find drugs.
"If we have the drones, if we have the LPRs, all these things give us that ability to be able to do our job more safely, but it also helps us in our ability to serve and protect the City of Sierra Vista and citizens and keep them safe,” Heiple said. “It just gives us a better opportunity to help serve the public and our community better so we can keep our community safer."
The new equipment should arrive in the next few months, and the officers here are just excited to have more resources to help keep the community safe.
"Our goal is always about making sure that the community is safe and protecting and serving, and these tools will give us that ability to do that better,” Heiple said.
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Alexis Ramanjulu is a reporter in Cochise County for KGUN 9. She began her journalism career reporting for the Herald/Review in Sierra Vista, which she also calls home. Share your story ideas with Alexis by emailing alexis.ramanjulu@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook.
