Governor Announces Multi-Million Dollar Proposal Supporting First Responders

Governor DeWine held a news conference Monday to announce a proposal to direct grant funding to law enforcement and other first responder agencies across Ohio.

The governor said the $250 million First Responder Resilience and Recovery Grant program will help first responder agencies counter increases in violent crime and to mitigate impacts to staffing levels and first-responder wellness caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The grant program will be paid for by American Rescue Plan Act funds.

$175 million of the funds would be dedicated towards supporting state and local efforts in solving crimes and holding violent offenders accountable.

He said the funds would build upon things they’ve already done to give police officers and criminal justice officials the resources they need to keep Ohioans safe.

The governor said $75 million of the funds will go towards supporting the resilience, recovery and recruitment of Ohio’s first responders.

He said the grant funding will allow agencies to provide more services to first responders to help them deal with the traumas of the jobs they hold.

Findlay Mayor Christina Muryn spoke at the news conference, saying the grant funding will help Findlay put money towards issues in the community that they haven’t been able to move the needle on quickly enough.

She says Findlay will likely look at getting body cams for its police officers and dash cams for their cruisers through this grant program.

However, that’s not official just yet, and the mayor said there might be other items that make sense to apply for through the program such as dealing with crime lab backup issues and other technology to help police solve crimes.

The Hancock County Sheriff’s Office said it will be looking at acquiring body and vehicle cameras through the new First Responder Resilience and Recovery Grant program

The new grant program still has to be approved by the Ohio Legislature.