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State police get $2 million in federal grants

Michigan State Police

The Michigan State Police is getting $2 million from the federal government.

The money comes from three grants earmarked for separate uses.

One grant will pay for overtime for the state police lab to test sexual assault kits. Money will also go to toward investigating cases that have been hung up in backlogs.   

Nancy Bennett is the division director for MSP’s grants and community services division.

“MSP really places a high priority on processing sexual assault kits,” she said. “This is the second year we have been awarded this highly competitive grant. So we will work to ensure that all kits are processed.”

Another grants will be used to fight methamphetamine production and use in the state. Matt Opsommer, a grant writer for MSP said the grant is especially important in southwest Michigan.

“While heroin is, and rightly so, getting a lot of attention nationally as well as here in Michigan – heroin and opioids,” he said. “We’re also seeing a comeback of sorts of methamphetamine.”

 

The final grant will pay for a new patrol boat for the Port of Sault Ste. Marie.

Bennett said money from grants allows MSP to work on extra projects and are an important part of MSP’s annual funds.

“This allows us to do things that might be outside of our budget,” she said. “They use them as incentives for getting projects started. If you have grant funding and things work really well then the agency is much more likely to incorporate that into their regular operating business.”

There are no more federal grants available for this fiscal year, Bennett said, but their department works all-year-round trying to secure money for MSP.

Before becoming the newest Capitol reporter for the Michigan Public Radio Network, Cheyna Roth was an attorney. She spent her days fighting it out in court as an assistant prosecuting attorney for Ionia County. Eventually, Cheyna took her investigative and interview skills and moved on to journalism. She got her masters at Michigan State University and was a documentary filmmaker, podcaster, and freelance writer before finding her home with NPR. Very soon after joining MPRN, Cheyna started covering the 2016 presidential election, chasing after Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and all their surrogates as they duked it out for Michigan. Cheyna also focuses on the Legislature and criminal justice issues for MPRN. Cheyna is obsessively curious, a passionate storyteller, and an occasional backpacker. Follow her on Twitter at @Cheyna_R