Hard-Won Grant for Ledyard Police Dispatch System is Cancelled by Federal Government

The federal government's chaos and destruction hits home for many of us in a multitude of ways.

​Unfortunately, Ledyard Town Council learned that the $229,000 grant, which Councilor Jessica Buhle had worked hard on with Chief John Rich for the police dispatch system replacement, is no longer going to be funded.  

The Ledyard grant proposal had been selected and approved through a competitive Congressionally Directed Spending process and passed through appropriations. The Continuing Resolution passed last week excludes ALL Congressionally Directed Spending funds, including funds that Congress had ALREADY voted to appropriate across the country to towns and states.

This will cost Ledyard taxpayers nearly $230,000, and is extremely disheartening and frustrating. We applaud Congressman Courtney for voting against the resolution and we express our gratitude to our Ledyard Town Councilors who have worked hard to apply for this and other grants. 

Why is the upgrade needed? 

The police department has moved to the statewide digital system. The fire departments are currently trying to do the same. Most of Ledyard's mutual aid partners in the region either have or are in the process of migrating to that system. The fire departments already received grant-funded radios to move to the system. The dispatch side of the department was not eligible under the same grant. 

The move to the digital system will provide better radio coverage to the fire departments and allow seamless interface with mutual aid responses both into and out of town, which are essential during larger incidents, such as building fires and larger rescues.

The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health cites poor communication abilities as one of the leading contributing factors to firefighter line-of-duty injuries and deaths. An improved communication system will help improve the safety of our town's emergency response personnel.

From Councilor Jessica Buhle: "The system is very outdated and requires a lot of redundant entries to include all required information for reporting. The new requested system would be up to date, more efficient for officers and dispatch, and collaborate with other local departments. It is a need that was requested in the Police Capital funding that we tried to address through Congressionally Directed Spending instead of taxpayer levy, and our application was selected for funding and passed appropriations.


What happens next?
From Councilor Jessica Buhle:
"I have reached out to Senator Murphy’s office to see if there are any plans to fund this in the future. It was included in last year's budget. We funded $45,000 last year as insurance in case we weren’t awarded the grant. We will discuss adding the needed funding to this year’s budget after there is a chance to discuss with Chief Rich and the finance committee."