Grants
2020 THSO GrantThe Tennessee Highway Safety Office (THSO) is a division of the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security advocating for traffic safety. The THSO works in tandem with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to implement statewide programs addressing occupant protection, impaired driving, speed enforcement, pedestrian and bicycle safety, and crash data collection and analysis. Programs administered by the THSO are 100 percent federally funded.
The THSO’s mission is to reduce Tennessee traffic fatalities as part of the nation’s vision Toward Zero Deaths. The THSO works to achieve this goal by changing driver behavior through increased education, enforcement, and community partnerships.
The type of grant the Murfreesboro Police Department received from THSO is called Community-Based Traffic Safety Enforcement and Education grant.
The most recent grant we have received (starts October 1st) is for $119,905.00. Of those funds:
- $83,967.00 goes for salaries and benefits of officers that will work grant funded overtime traffic enforcement.
- $35,938.00 goes toward the purchase of equipment. We will use those funds to purchase RADAR units.
2022 JAG Grant
PUBLIC NOTICE
Notice is hereby given that the City of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County are eligible to apply for a grant award of $61,786 from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) through the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), and the U.S. Department of Justice. The award would be made jointly to the City of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County to be used for law enforcement purposes. The award requires no local matching funds.
The City of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County have agreed to share the funds equally, with City receiving $30,893 and County receiving $30,893. The Murfreesboro City Council and the Rutherford County Board of Commissioners have reviewed the terms and conditions of the application.
The Murfreesboro Police Department proposes to use the City’s share of the award to purchase Conducted Energy Devise (CED) in an effort to provide more less lethal options for officers faced with a combative suspect.
The Rutherford County Sheriff's Office wishes to purchase two (2) DJI Matrice 30T drones. The utilization of these drones will allow deputies to have overall situational awareness of scenes from an aerial vantage point. The drone will be a force multiplier when conducting aerial searches for wanted and missing persons. UAS are essential public safety tool for traffic accident scene investigations, assessing dangerous situations such as active shooter, hostage, suspicious package/bomb and potential riots. Areas of interest can be covered at a faster pace from the air than on foot allowing for personnel to cover larger areas. It is anticipated that the use of UAS will be less costly to acquire, store, operate and deploy.
The governing bodies must review the application for at least thirty (30) days before the award is made. They will begin their review on August 3, 2022, when elected officials receive the information and will end thirty (30) days later. The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) will not make the award until the review period ends.
Anyone wishing additional information or who wishes to comment regarding the application for the grant award should contact Jenny Licsko at the Murfreesboro Police Department at (615) 849-2673, or Reba Carleton at the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Department at (615) 849-4898.