Mahoning Co. Sheriff's Office, Youngstown Police receive more than $1M for crime reduction

The Mahoning County Sheriff's Office and the Youngstown Police Department have been awarded more than $1 million each to focus on crime reduction.
 
The Youngstown Police Department is getting $1,862,761 to expand its recruitment efforts, buy new technology to assist in preventing and investigating violent crimes and hire new patrol officers.
 
The Mahoning County Sheriff's Office will use its $1,385,705.77 grant to assign a full-time investigation to the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force, purchase equipment to help with investigations and offer retention bonuses.
 
The grants come from the Ohio Violent Crime Reduction Grant Program.
 
According to a release from State Representative Al Cutrona, the program aims to give local law enforcement more resources to address violent and increasing crime rates.
 
"As we have seen violent crime surge over the last two years, I was proud to back our law enforcement agencies and our communities by supporting this initiative and many others focused on reducing crime and enhancing public safety," Cutrona said.
 
Mahoning County has been awarded more than $20 million through the program.