Funding for deputies sought

PROVO — Officials in the Utah County Sheriff's Office are crossing their fingers and hoping that when they finally hear back about two grants, it will be good news — in the form of $144,000 for new equipment.

The Utah County Commission recently gave the OK for the sheriff's office to apply for two different grants that, if awarded, would allow the county to buy a mass spectrometer as well as car alarms for officers' cars, aimed at increasing the levels of safety and productivity for officers.

"We apply for several and just kind of wait and see which ones are approved," said Dalene Higgins, financial analyst for the sheriff's office. "(Grants) allow us to get items we probably would not otherwise be able to purchase."

Higgins mailed an application last week for an Edward Byrne Memorial Discretionary Grant — $49,000 that would be used to install alarms on deputies' cars and purchase Bluetooth headsets to improve communication between officers.

The plan to install car alarms is in response to an April 24 burglary in Lehi, where a man broke into a Utah County deputy's truck and stole two guns and and several pieces of police equipment, including a laptop computer, spike strips, a camera and a defibrillator.

The grant might also be used for a few Segways — the motorized people mover — to allow quicker movement between county buildings that officers are responsible for securing.

Higgins hopes to hear back regarding the grant in two or three months.

The second grant — a Paul Coverdell Forensic Science Improvement Grant — would cover the $95,000 piece of machinery called a mass spectrometer.

It's a machine that identifies unknown substances.

If someone is arrested with a bag of white powder in their pocket, officials want to quickly know if it's Kool-Aid powder or crack cocaine.

The grant is designed for states and units of local government to "help improve the quality and timeliness of forensic science and medical examiner services," according to an application packet submitted by the county.

The sheriff's office received this grant in 2005 and used it to buy a fingerprint machine that has decreased the time spent processing crime scenes and is the centerpiece of the office's newly renovated evidence lab.

"We're just trying to be a little more efficient," said Doug Squire, the Utah County sheriff's evidence and forensics lab supervisor. "We could use (the spectrometer) on a daily basis. We're probably receiving on an average three to five (drug) cases a day."

With only three employees, any equipment that speeds up preliminary testing would be a plus.

Squire would still need to send some substances to the crime lab in Salt Lake City for in-depth testing until the Utah County Sheriff's Department could get a full-time chemist who could run tests and testify about such in a court of law.

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