TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — With more than $120,000 in hand, the Tallahassee Police Department is taking more steps to tackle gang violence in the city.
In Wednesday's commission meeting, the commission unanimously voted to accept the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Project Safe Neighborhood Grant award of $121,510.
Police Chief Lawrence Revell says the department received more money than
"We originally submitted this request for $96,500. The grant was so well written, they gave us an additional $20,000 plus based on the money available," he told commissioners.
The will allow TPD to supports additional training for 20 law enforcement officers. The training will facilitate a comprehensive approach to gang investigations that enhances the prosecution of gang related cases.
The department will be able to buy f license plate readers that will be used to support vehicle identification in high crime locations.
It'll also create a Gang Task Force.
"I will train officers on how to identify all those gang signs, gang members, those types of things. And it helps us work in collaboration with price and overtime, things as well," said Chief Revell.
The Gang Task Force will consist of members from TPD and the Leon County Sheriff’s Office that will meet on a regular basis. The team will identify high crime areas and people to watch.
What Chief Revell says he's most exciting about? A program aimed at keeping middle and high school students away from gangs.
"The people that's training our officers and everybody else are people that have been associated with gangs to truly know what's happening. So we will definitely bring those types of trainers in and have them assist us in training our officers. We will also have members of academia come in and train on what to look for and what to know," he said.
Chief Revell expects to hit the ground running with these initiatives now that the commission has signed off on them.
