ISP seeks nearly 30 million dollars in federal funds

INDIANA. -- The Indiana State police are asking for nearly 30 million dollars in federal grant money, to try and obtain surveillance technology, vehicles, and other resources.

The money ISP is seeking would go toward tools to help make troopers' jobs easier.

As local law enforcement agencies work alongside immigration enforcement agents, ISP is seeking more federal funding to do so.

Chief public information officer captain Ron Galaviz says the money would give departments access to certain tools and technology they might not currently be able to access.

"We're going to use it to augment the services that we provide, there are certain technologies that we, I think within the application, but there are certain technologies in there that we would either look to improve upon or actually go out and look to obtain. We don't necessarily go out and publicly explain how we fight crime and try and catch bad guys so there's certain things we're not going to publicly discuss but we'll look to improve some of the features and technology that we currently use, and of course, there's some things out there, could be training and equipment that we don't currently have that we would like to try and get," said CaptainGalaviz.

This money wouldn't just go toward I-s-p posts in larger areas like Indianapolis.

All 14 posts throughout the state would benefit from these potential funds.

"We supplement investigations every day, every year, investigations like Delphi as an example, we bring to bear resources that some agencies just do not have, that we can help augment an investigation, so the things that we're seeking with this grant money, will not only help isp, it's going to help, over time, these agencies that we do work with side by side," said Captain Galaviz.

In the end, captain Galaviz says it comes down to giving officers the best odds at doing their job, and bringing those who commit crimes to justice.

"There's always wants and needs for every agency, regardless of its size, ours is no different. We have statewide breadth, we have statewide authority, and sometimes, even our resources at times can be a little limited. Law enforcement, sometimes we're seemingly behind the 8 ball in certain respects, so we want to try and keep on top of technology that's emerging, technology in the number of different facets that we do, so trying to do that, it takes some funding," said Captain Galaviz.

Captain Galaviz tells me he hasn't been told when the federal government will decide whether to approve the grant money.