INDIAN RIVER COUNTY – The Indian River County Sheriff’s Office has received nearly $32,300 in a grant that it will use for new mapping software.
The money will go to purchasing upgrades to the department’s outdated GIS mapping and crime analysis software. It will also pay for two years of hosting fees for the crime mapping.
“The Indian River County Sheriff’s Office’s goal is to enhance the Crime Analysis Unit, which will assist them in tasks that would allow them to become more efficient and effective,” said Sheriff Deryl Loar in a prepared statement. The software will have a major impact with the newly created Problem Oriented Policing initiatives and allow the Crime Analysts the ability to visualize crime activity geographically, according to the sheriff.
The analysts will be able to focus their time on problem areas, analyze crime data, alerting deputies of increased crimes in a generalized area and notify citizens through a Web-based mapping system of crimes in their areas, he added.
The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program (JAG) allows states and units of local governments, including tribes, to support a broad range of activities to prevent and control crime based on their own state and local needs and conditions.
Grant funds can be used for state and local initiatives, technical assistance, training, personnel, equipment, supplies, contractual support, and information systems for criminal justice, including for any one or more of the following purpose areas:
1) law enforcement programs;
2) prosecution and court programs;
3) prevention and education programs;
4) corrections and community corrections programs;
5) drug treatment and enforcement programs;
6) planning, evaluation, and technology improvement programs; and
7) crime victim and witness programs (other than compensation.
