GRAMBLING, LA – The Grambling State University Police Department is getting a technology update at no cost to its students. The police department has been awarded a $99,000 grant for technology enhancement from the U.S. Department of Education.

The grant will be used to purchase new computers, body cameras, Tasers and a program that allows parking tickets to be issued electronically instead of written by hand.

GSU Police Chief Howard Caviness said the grant, which runs from Oct. 1, 2015 to Sept. 30, 2016, will provide equipment to help the officers better ensure campus safety.

Putting computers in police cars will allow officers to spend more time patrolling, since they will no longer have to return to the police department in order to file a report.

“The computers will keep the officers out of the office and in the public’s eye more. The visibility of police officers alone can serve as a deterrent to crime,” Caviness said.

In addition, the new body cameras have wider lenses that will show observers a wider range of vision when viewing recordings.

“It shows that procedures have been properly followed or if violations have occurred,” Caviness said. “It protects the citizen and the police officer and the department he or she works for in different ways.”

Cardinal Ticket Track will not only allow officers to write and print tickets for parking violations electronically, but it will also take pictures of the vehicle and the surrounding location that can be used as evidence in appeals of traffic citations.

The grant has been awarded under the Student Aid & Fiscal Responsibility Act, Part F of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Program grant. Chief Caviness is also applying for an extension of the grant through 2020.

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