Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Information

The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant award of $48,861 will be used by the Roanoke Police Department and Roanoke City Sheriff’s Office as part of the “Technology Improvement” project.  The Roanoke Police Department will leverage the grant award to partially offset the cost of replacing antiquated smart board technology at its police academy.

All police department employees, employees of all surrounding local law enforcement agencies, criminal justice/juvenile justice employees in the Roanoke region, and Virginia State Police officers who use the police academy for training will benefit.  The Roanoke City Sheriff’s Office will leverage the award to continue its security enhancement plan by installing additional security cameras and technology support equipment in the Roanoke City Jail.  Personnel who will directly benefit from this improvement will include all Sheriff’s office employees, daylight administrative staff, support staff, and prisoners who are incarcerated.

The Roanoke Police Department will utilize $29,316 of grant funding to address two project identifiers: 1) Training – De-Escalation and 2) Training – Racial and Ethnic Bias – All Roanoke Police officers attend both de-escalation and racial/ethnic bias training at the Roanoke Police Academy.  The procurement of replacement systems for the smart boards will allow the training to continue.

The Roanoke City Sheriff’s Office will utilize $19,545 of grant funding to address two project identifiers: 3) Equipment General and 4) Officer Safety – The Roanoke City Sheriff’s Office will use the grant funding to purchase additional building cameras as part of a larger surveillance upgrade project to improve officer safety and accountability in the Roanoke City Jail.

For more information on the Byrne Grant, click here