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COLUMBUS – Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Friday announced that the state will award nearly $4.8 million in grant funding to help local law enforcement agencies across Ohio cover costs associated with body-worn camera programs.

The St. Paris Police Department was among the agencies receiving a grant in the amount of $10,800.

A total of 108 law enforcement agencies will receive funding as part of the third round of the Ohio Body-Worn Camera Grant Program. Of those agencies, 32 will use funding to create new body-worn camera programs and 76 agencies will dedicate funding toward expanding or upgrading existing technology.

“Body-worn cameras are important for both the protection of our law enforcement officers and members of the public,” said DeWine. “My administration is proud to support our police departments and sheriff’s offices will the cost of this equipment so that agencies big and small can outfit their peace officers with cameras.”

DeWine created the Ohio Body-Worn Camera Grant Program in 2021. In total, more than 300 law enforcement agencies have received funding as part of the program, including over 200 law enforcement agencies that received nearly $10 million in grants in the 2022-2023 biennium.

The Ohio General Assembly allotted an additional $10 million to the program as part of the current 2024-2025 biennium, $5 million of which will be awarded next year.

Ohio’s Office of Criminal Justice Services, which is administering the grant program, received $10.7 million worth of grant requests for this round of funding. All qualifying agencies that applied for grants to establish new body-worn camera programs received funding, and the remaining funds went to existing programs to upgrade aging cameras, add storage capacity, or hire record-retention personnel.

Info from Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s office