(The Center Square) – A record amount of funding is headed to Maryland law enforcement entities, Gov. Larry Hogan said.
The State Aid for Police Protection program, the governor announced, will be receiving $122.5 million that will provide expanded resources to law enforcement officials that is designed to support operational expenditures and keep communities safe.
The funding, the governor said, is part of the Re-Fund The Police Initiative.
"Prioritized by our budget, this record 60% increase in funding will help police officers and the communities they serve in every jurisdiction in Maryland," Hogan said in a release. "We will continue to do everything in our power to support law enforcement and to provide our men and women in uniform with the tools they need to keep Marylanders safe."
According to the release, the funding can be used for salaries and wages, equipment, upgrading technology, providing more investigation tools, operational expenses, contracts and services, vehicles and maintenance costs, and various suppliers and materials necessary to performing police work.
Funding, according to the release, will be doled out based on a formula configured through the jurisdictional population, how many officers are employed in a department, and taxable income within a jurisdiction. The Uniform Crime Report on violent crime is used, through legislation passed this session, that determines how funding will be distributed in the fiscal year 2023.
Kunle Adeyemo, executive director of the Governor's Office of Crime Prevention, Youth, and Victim Services, said that when "police officers have the funding they need to fight crime, they get the job done."
"We will continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with police and work together to build a safer, healthier, and more prosperous Maryland," Adeyemo said in the release.
Hogan has committed $137 million through the Re-Fund The Police Initiative that will increase SAPP awards spanning the next three fiscal years.
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