Wilkes-Barre Police to get $372K grant for five new cars

The Wilkes-Barre City Police Department is set to receive more than $372,000 in federal grant funding. The money will pay for five new police vehicles, including the technology and equipment installed inside them. Officials announced the funding Monday morning and discussed how the new vehicles will be used.

“It’s the vehicles and the upfit of those respective vehicles. So, the light package, the striping, the stuff that goes on in the interior, the tech,” said Wilkes-Barre City Police Chief Michael Boyle.

The funding was obtained by United States Representative Rob Bresnahan. He says the new cruisers will be equipped with technology that can alert officers to potential threats near their vehicles.

“There’s actually a proximity sensor. So, in the event an officer is doing paperwork, they can actually detect if somebody is running up alongside in the blindspot to possibly do something they shouldn’t be able to do and it alerts the police officer, automatically rolls up the windows and locks the doors,” said Representative Bresnahan.

The federal funding comes just four months after the city received state money for five additional police vehicles.

Mayor George Brown says the upgrades will help officers keep up with the demands of a department that handles tens of thousands of calls each year.

“Almost 50,000 calls a year. The vehicles are constantly going, three shifts, seven days a week. So, they’re always in need of new vehicles. So, this is going to help us,” said Mayor Brown.

This funding is part of a larger push to bring federal dollars back to Northeastern Pennsylvania for public safety and infrastructure projects.