ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. — Elizabeth City is getting a major federal grant to pay for new technology to combat violent crime.
The money will be used for gunshot detection sensors and new equipment to process evidence from crime scenes and mobile phones.
The grant is worth $440,000 and leaders said it will free up money that can be spent elsewhere, including to boost police pay.
“This is just a game-changer for us. Everything this grant gives us is just a force multiplier,” said Police Chief Phil Webster.
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The grant supports the city's violent crime reduction initiative.
The upgrades include:
- An acoustic gunshot detection pilot program involving sensors and surveillance cameras
- Automated fingerprint processing equipment
- Technology to better extract evidence from mobile phones
- And the establishment of a regional ballistics evidence processing center to help solve gun crimes around the region and reduce delays in processing evidence.
“We find a lot of times that a weapon used here, is a weapon that might have been used in Edenton or vice versa,” Webster said. “And we can use that link analysis to establish where that gun’s been used what crimes it’s been used in, who may have had it.”
News 3 reported earlier this month on efforts to boost police pay in Elizabeth City to recruit and retain officers. Mayor Kirk Rivers said the federal grants will help free up money in the city’s budget.
“We’re able to use this money and acquire the equipment and then we’re able to use the other money to keep our police pay competitive,” he said.
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U.S. Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., helped secure the funding.
Elizabeth City vied with other communities to receive the grant.
Davis, who is running for reelection against Republican Laurie Buckhout, also secured grants to upgrade a water treatment plant in Weeksville and to help the city purchase the Elizabeth City Shipyard property, which has fallen into disrepair. The three grants totaled around $1.8 million.
“We must see how our federal dollars can make it back into our communities and work for us,” Davis said. “I look forward to more opportunities and a brighter future for Elizabeth City.”
Providing more jobs and opportunities to residents will also reduce crime in the long run, Rivers said.
