The Lieutenant Governor made a stop in Butler Wednesday afternoon after the county was awarded nearly $900,000.
The money will be given to the district attorney’s office to purchase updated equipment for local law enforcement, hire a full and part time investigator, and increased training.
Governor Josh Shapiro’s budget calls for an additional $10 million for the Violence Intervention and Prevention grants. Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis said increasing the funding for this program sees real results.
“We have invested in public safety in Pennsylvania and the return to taxpayers is that violent crime is down 16 percent in Pennsylvania,” Davis said. “Our crime is down further than the national average. We have proven that these investments work and that we need to take a holistic approach to making sure we’re making our communities safer.”
Butler County District Attorney Rich Goldinger says these new hires will run an emergency services unit.
“The command our emergency services unit and there is a ton of training included in it. They’ll be able to go to training and do drug interdiction. We consider violent crime directly related to the drug issue,” Goldinger said. “We figure if we can attack that, we can reduce violent crime.”
Two detectives are expected to be hired in the next month. The grant will fund the open positions for three years.
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