The Alaska Congressional Delegation announced in a news release Tuesday that the City and Borough of Juneau received a $21,665 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice.
The Juneau Police Department spokeswoman Cindee Brown-Mills told the Empire that CBJ/JPD has received the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant for the past four years.
Brown-Mills said the funding this year will go toward needed equipment. That includes rain jackets for patrol officers, and hardware and software upgrades for the JPD bomb defusing robot.
In years past, the department used the grant money to fund a social worker position called the Police Crisis Intervention Specialist, and also for other needed equipment.
• Contact reporter Emily Russo Miller at 523-2263 or at emily.miller@juneauempire.com.
Comments (11)
Add commentskip the social worker
just build a bigger drunk tank.
upgrades?
I wonder, how often does JPD use that bomb robot?
frequency and diligency
No matter the frequency, be it non-stop or never that the police robot makes headline news. Diligence to duty with mindful preparation for emergency and hazards is approriate for peace officers. If it ever saved one person loss of life or limb, I can imagine one person who would be very thankful - property damage and related risk exposure to be balanced aside. It is difficult to publish statistics on the numbers of lives saved as it is easier to tally the dead.
Some however seem to think that the appropriate use of funds in Juneau is a 'larger drunk tank' (whatever that means), and think very little of crisis intervention or unmanned police robot usage to increase public and officer safety. Oh well, the dark ages seem sure to make a comeback sooner than later, sigh.
@granger
My prior comment was not meant as a disparagement against the Juneau Police Department, nor how they choose to spend their funds. I was merely surprised that they even HAD the technology, as this is the first I've ever heard of it. I also cannot remember ever hearing of a bomb threat or scare in Juneau.
wfischer, I get the
wfischer,
I get the impression that you are not from Juneau or that you are very young. In the 70s bomb scares in the Juneau schools were commonplace. If you were to browse through some old Marie Drake yearbooks you would see pictures of students dressed down for PE standing out in the snow shivering during a bomb scare. In 1974 or 1975, JDHS had a day of school suddenly cancelled in midstream when after a phone call a stick of dynamite was discovered in one of the lockers. With the advent of caller ID and pay phones becoming extinct the frequency of bomb threats might have decreased. However, I'm happy that JPD is somewhat prepared in the event of having to deal with an explosive device.
You don't need a robot
to diffuse (Verb: Spread or cause to spread over a wide area or among a large number of people) a bomb, which is the exact opposite of defusing a bomb.
Diffuse vs. defuse
This has now been corrected, thanks for pointing that out MikeyToo.
MikeyToo, you confuse me...the article has the correct term
(defuse). What the heck are you talking about?
Last bomb scare
Was 2007 http://juneauempire.com/stories/042007/loc_20070420023.shtml
Glad it turned out to be a false alarm. If it was a bomb I'm glad we would have had the equipment on hand that would potentially save lives!
justlivin
If you'd read Abby's post immediately before yours, you would have seen that she has corrected the error. That's why you don't see it.
Do try to keep up.
Her comment was not there when
I posted my comment.