UPD receives grant

With the state of California in a budget crisis, any available grants have become the light at the end of the tunnel for local law enforcement agencies.

The Upland Police Department was recently approved to receive a $120,000 state police grant to purchase much needed equipment for the various divisions of the department.

"Grants are very helpful and appreciated by the police departments because we would not be able to otherwise purchase the equipment during these tough budgetary times," said Capt. Jeff Mendenhall of the Upland Police Department.

On the list of items are tasers with connected cameras that will capture video of any time a police officer uses his or her taser.

"It gives us a counting of exactly the circumstances surrounding an officer pull his taser and deploying his taser and all of that is on video," Mendenhall said.

Other equipment include a throw phone for the department's crisis negotiation team, flashlights for detectives, ballistic vest covers for detective bureaus, handguns for the swat teams and red man suits for hand to hand combat training.

"There are things out there that we would like to be able to purchase, but don't have funding," Mendenhall said. "We're always looking for grants to get and depending on the dollar amount of the grant then we'll always be able to find equipment we would like to purchase."

The grant was discussed during the public hearing during the Upland City Council meeting on Jan. 12. and was approved by the council.

"We have one of the top police department services and we want to make sure they have every technology and the best equipment," Upland City Manager Robb Quincey said.