GRAMBLING, LA – Grambling State University’s Police Department has recently undergone a first-floor makeover. Thanks to a Title 3 grant, renovations were recently completed to the police department’s communication room, which now houses a new communication system as well.

The new communication system from Cardinal Tracking, Inc. is much faster and more reliable than the previous communication system. It combines four systems that provide officers with faster access to information and more reliable storage of reports and related data.

GSU Interim Police Chief Howard Caviness has been interested in expanding the communication room into the department’s lobby and upgrading the system ever since he became chief in July 2014.

“When I assumed this position, my first priority was to make that room larger, more comfortable and definitely more safe for employees. It was incredibly small. There was a lot of unusable space that is now useable because of the renovations that we did,” he said.

The communication room acts as the hub of the police department. The room contains most of the department’s communication and surveillance equipment, and the expansion allows for more equipment and personnel to be housed in the room.

The police department was awarded a $100,000 Title 3 grant in October 2014. About 70 percent of this grant has gone toward renovating the GSUPD communication room and purchasing a new communication system. The grant also funded new body cameras and Tasers for the police department.

In addition to the communication system, GSUPD also purchased a system that tracks parking tickets and automatically uploads the information to an electronic database. This system will save the department on time spent manually entering and searching through carbon copies of the parking tickets.

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