The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) announced that Gov. Kay Ivey has awarded grants totaling $300,000 for law enforcement agents. Two grants totaling $200,000 will help law enforcement agents improve their skills in reducing crime and capturing criminals while another grant for $100,000 will be used to provide jobs to former inmates to reduce their chances of returning to prison after their release.
ADECA will administer the grants from funds made available by the U.S. Department of Justice. ADECA offers programs supporting law enforcement and traffic safety, economic development, energy conservation, water resource management, and recreation development.
Ivey stated, “Education means more opportunities, and that is true with both the training of our law enforcement, as well as and with current inmates to make sure they can be productive citizens. I am pleased to award these grants for all three of these programs.”
“ADECA is pleased to join with Gov. Ivey in these three programs to continue training law enforcement officers and to teach job skills to inmates who can become law-abiding, tax-paying citizens when released from prison,” ADECA Director Kenneth Boswell said.
Auburn University Montgomery received a $100,000 grant to conduct a statewide crime prevention training program for local, county, and state law enforcement officers and related workers.
Jacksonville State University, also the recipient of a $100,000 grant, will continue to train law enforcement officers, particularly on the local level, in the basics of forensic sciences and evidence gathering.
J.F. Ingram State Technical College in Elmore County will use funds to continue a program that links Ingram graduates who are inmates at nearby prisons with employers throughout Alabama needing their skills upon release.
