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Cortland Police Department receives $112K grant to help combat human trafficking

By Mahoning Matters staff
Ohio Violent Crime Reduction Grant Program
(Office of Gov. Mike DeWine)

The Cortland Police Department will receive $112,097 in state funds to help combat human trafficking.

The funds, awarded in the fifth round of Gov. Mike DeWine’s Ohio Violent Crime Reduction Grant Program and funded through the American Rescue Plan Act, will be used to assign a full-time officer to the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force and to pay for overtime for undercover operations, a news release states.

DeWine announced Friday that 14 law enforcement agencies will receive grants totaling $3.5 million to help combat violence, including gun crime and human trafficking.

The program, which has awarded $23 million to 83 Ohio law enforcement agencies to date, will award $58 million in total, the release states.

“Violent crime not only impacts public safety but also quality of life, and I am committed to doing all we can to protect Ohio’s citizens from violence,” DeWine said in the release. “By giving local law enforcement agencies these additional resources, they’ll be able to do more to prevent crime so that community members feel safe.”

The other grant recipients in the fifth round of funding are:

  • Athens Police Department, $200,680;

  • Bath Police Department, $230,826;

  • Brooklyn Police Department, $181,471;

  • Champaign County Prosecutor’s Office, $28,800;

  • Columbus Division of Police, $629,047;

  • Gallipolis Police Department, $155,579;

  • Noble County Sheriff’s Office, $116,462;

  • Oak Hill Police Department, $20,316;

  • Reynoldsburg Police Department, $685,021;

  • Ross Township Police Department, $235,244;

  • Stow Police Department, $330,689;

  • Toledo Police Department, $372,800;

  • Wadsworth Police Department, $241,020.

In the Mahoning Valley, the Warren Police Department was awarded $218,344 and the Northern Ohio Violent Crime Consortium, which includes the Youngstown Police Department, received $130,418 in the first round of funding.

In the third round, the Austintown Township Police Department was awarded $281,800, the Sebring Police Department was awarded $51,521 and the Milton Township Police Department received $18,000.

In the fourth round, the Jackson Township Police Department was awarded $35,846, the Niles Police Department was awarded $262,350 and the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office received $366,799.

No law enforcement agencies in the Valley received funds in the second round.

This story was originally published July 22, 2022 at 2:14 PM.