MJ Kneiser, Anderson Independent-Mail | Saturday, February 9, 2013

LAVONIA, Ga. -- The police department is receiving a $10,000 grant from the Governor's Office of Highway Safety.

Lavonia Police Chief Bruce Carlisle said he was informed of the award last week, and the department expects to receive the money this fall."We received that grant because of all of our participation in the Governor's Office of Highway Safety initiatives," Carlisle said.

This is the third time the Lavonia Police Department has been awarded a grant from the highway safety office.

"We got it two years ago, and when they called me from the Governor's Office of Highway Safety, it was clearly because of the way we've helped them out," Carlisle said. "We participated in the reporting, our attendance at their traffic network meetings. A lot of things go into that. The state is so gracious to help smaller departments."

The grant money will be used to help streamline the police department evidence and property department with some new, high-tech equipment, he said.

"We're implementing a bar-coding system," he said. "You can track the evidence with literally a wave of the bar-code wand and find out where it is, at the GBI (Georgia Bureau of Investigation) office or wherever. It's going to be such a timesaver."

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