EAST LIVERPOOL — The East Liverpool Police Department is a recipient of grant money for body-worn cameras.

A media release from Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s office announced that the East Liverpool Police Department was one of 131 departments including 10 agencies across the state sharing $4.4 million in funding awarded in the fifth round of awards from the Ohio Body-Worn Grant Program to establish new body-worn camera programs. Additionally, another 121 agencies will share in that award to expand or upgrade their existing technology.

The funding is for purchase of body cameras and associated costs.

Chief John Lane –shocked when he heard his department had been awarded a grant in the amount of $21,160 –said he had a previous estimate of about $30,000 for the cameras, training, charges and storage. The storage of camera footage is the most expensive part with an estimated $5,000 yearly cost.

Lanehad just started to work on writing a different grant for the body cameras, because it had been so long since he applied for this grant and had not heard anything back on it. He assumed the department was not getting it.

Since the Ohio Body-Worn Grant Program started in 2021, 370 law enforcement agencies throughout the state have received funding.

“Today, body-worn cameras on law enforcement officers are commonplace; they protect both the public and our first responders,” DeWine said in the release “My administration is proud to have helped hundreds of local agencies incorporate this valuable technology into their daily routines.”

The Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services which administers the grant received $17.2 million worth of grant request for this most recent round. The priority in awards went to qualifying agencies that applied to establish a body-worn camera program. Then the remaining funds went to agencies with existing programs to update aging camera and storage capacity, according to the media release.

East Liverpool is not the only Columbiana County agency to receive an award. The East Palestine Police Department was awarded $19,459.41.

Calls to for comments made to the East Palestine Police Department were not returned.

kgarabrandt@mojonews.com