Over $130 million in grant money heading to Pennsylvania police departments

BEAVER COUNTY, Pa. — More than $130 million in grant money from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency is headed to police departments around the commonwealth.

Rochester Township has just four full-time officers and is receiving more than $88,000 to outfit officers with body cameras, in-car cameras and more.

“I was pretty shocked because you found out before me,” Sgt. Kevin Foltz said. He’s leading the department after the retirement of its chief and hadn’t heard the news until we called him. “We wouldn’t have them without [the grant]. There’s no way we would’ve come up with that much money to buy body cameras and in-car cameras.”

His department received one of six awards in Beaver County. One of them is more than $2.5 million to help upgrade equipment for 22 law enforcement agencies in the county - including Rochester Twp.

“The program we currently use is probably coming to the end of life in the next year or two that would be an expense we’d try to absorb,” Sgt. Foltz said.

He adds the cameras are good for everyone, not just police.

“Scenes are chaotic. You miss stuff. Body camera picks it up.”

Community members told us they were happy to see a small township have a chance to level the playing field with bigger cities.

“It’s good to have it everywhere. you’ve got it in the big cities. The smaller people need the protection and police need it, too,” Dashaun Boyd said.

“It’s good for them as well. That way, they’ve got no recourse. If they say this cop was a jerk, they have proof if he was or not,” Melanie Vukich said.

Click here for a breakdown of the more $135 million awarded.

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