Grant to Give LAPD, FBI Crime-Fighting Equipment
A Sun Valley-based nonprofit organization Thursday will present the Los Angeles Police Department and the FBI with equipment to fight violent crime in and around public housing complexes in the Los Angeles area.
Computers, video cameras and night-vision equipment are to be included in the package that the Community Partnership Development Corp. put together with Safe Neighborhood Grants funded by the federal Housing and Urban Development department.
The grant is designed to assist law enforcement in ways that would not be funded under normal “bureau operating expenses,” said Frank A. Virgallito, program director at the nonprofit agency.
The organization received two grants of $250,000 each to reduce crime in and around the assisted housing sites it operates in the Ramparts and central Los Angeles area, Virgallito said.
“We’re targeting violent crimes,” said Virgallito, noting that aggravated assaults, robberies, burglary theft from vehicles and a few sex crimes were among the crimes the organization hopes will be eliminated or reduced through use of the new equipment.
“The LAPD is trying to update their equipment to better target violent crime,” Virgallito said.
The FBI will be working directly with the LAPD to reduce crime, said a spokesman for the organization.
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