Police Department awarded grant

REARDAN — On Dec. 12, the Washington State Dept. of Commerce’s Office of Firearm Safety and Violence Prevention notified Police Chief Mike Suniga that his department was awarded a $49,753 Pursuit Technology Grant.

The grant funded the purchase of three Flock Safety license plate readers to be installed on Broadway Avenue at each end of town. The readers will capture the license plate numbers of all cars and compare them to databases for wanted subjects, stolen vehicles and missing persons.

In addition, the grant funded two StarChase systems to be installed in police vehicles. This technology uses a global positioning system that will allow officers to follow a suspect in real time at a safe distance, eliminating the need for dangerous pursuits.

Its aim is to de-escalate high-risk vehicle events and to prevent unnecessary injury and damage to property.

Suniga expects these systems to be installed in the spring.

“We know bad actors are coming through town,” Suniga said. “This technology will help us identify those people and help us affect their arrest.”