Published: July 16, 2008 11:50 am      

Grant will help Frostburg police buy new cruiser

FROSTBURG - A federal grant will help Frostburg Police Department purchase another police cruiser while a state grant will allow purchase of new body armor for the department's 15 officers.

The $13,750 awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development will enable the department to add a police cruiser to its current fleet of seven vehicles.

Frostburg councilman Bob Flanigan, who is the city's public safety commissioner, said Sgt. Mike Sweitzer handles grant applications for the police department.

"I commend Sgt. Sweitzer for his hard work and attention to detail. There's a lot of effort involved in putting together a 50- to 60-page grant in addition to answering calls for service.

"Sergeant Sweitzer's efforts are paying off for the department and the citizens of Frostburg," he said.

"Frostburg operates a full-service police department and this grant will provide funds to help purchase essential equipment needed to protect area residents," said U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, who announced the grant along with U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski.

"I am a strong supporter of the Rural Development grant program because it provides smaller communities with the resources they need for public safety," Cardin said.

Mikulski said she is "proud that this money will be used to keep the streets of Frostburg safe, and I will continue to fight in the U.S. Senate for grants like these that support our communities."

"As the pressures increase on our state and local law enforcement agencies, we must do what we can to give our first responders the resources they need to do their job safer and smarter," she said.

Frostburg Police also received a grant of $1,008 from the Governor's Office of Crime Control and Prevention. The funds appropriated by the Maryland General Assembly assist local law enforcement agencies in acquiring body armor to protect their officers from injury or death as they go about their duties in the communities.

A total of $50,000 was awarded through the grant program to 10 police departments located throughout the state. The largest grant of $14,163 was awarded to Baltimore County Police and the smallest at $848 was awarded to the town of Rising Sun.