Cambridge PD Receives Large Grant

(CAMBRIDGE, Md) – The Cambridge Police Department is receiving a massive grant from the state of Maryland in order to purchase some new traffic monitoring equipment. However, as we found out, that equipment is going to serve multiple purposes.

The Police Department was awarded $99,735 from the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant to further fund their Safety through Technology, Education and Partnerships Program, or STEP.

Chief Justin Todd says the money is going towards some key pieces of equipment, with the goal of helping curb teen crime.

He tells WMDT, “With our ShotSpotter technology that we already have, the surveillance systems we already have. We’re going to be able to connect, with our youth in ways that be able to stop crime for they for they began.”

The Department has been working throughout the fall with the city of Cambridge to obtain the grant…

About a dozen additional traffic cameras and multiple license plate readers are coming to an underserved portion of the community, like the area surrounding Greenwood Avenue.

“The great thing about that is it interacts with the Maryland system. So it’s not just about what’s going on in Cambridge, but if there’s a tag or something that’s been, put in that system, it’s going to, notify the Cambridge Police Department,” says Cambridge Grants Administrator, Tara Felts.

These cameras will also help with another issue: Nabbing reckless drivers.

Tara tells us, “You know, just because you might not see a cruiser doesn’t mean there’s not surveillance, you know, there’s not information available or that, you know, you can just go down the street recklessly or anything like that.”

Officials with the City of Cambridge says they expect to rollout the acquired equipment to start in January.