Big Boost for Lake County law enforcement

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Lake County has received a $225,000 Northeast Law Enforcement Administrator’s grant.

The grant will allow the Sheriff’s Department to place a deputy on the Lake Superior Drug Task Force and hire a new one to replace the appointed deputy.

“I asked the County Board for their support so that I can replace the deputy that will be assigned to this task force,” Sheriff Carey Johnson said. “It seemed to be favorable to the county board and they approved for us to start the hiring process.”

Johnson has also applied for a federally funded Cops Fast grant to hire a general investigator for the department. The funding from the grant would be for three years with no match money on the part of the department, although the department would need to commit to retaining and funding the position for a fourth year.

Johnson said he had not yet heard if they were successful in obtaining the grant, but would know later this summer.

“Due to the workload that our deputies already have, a separate investigator would be enormously beneficial to our office,” Johnson said. He said he was prompted to seek outside funding because of the current economic challenges in Lake County and the decrease in funding for local governments.

“I have been working to find outside ways to obtain monies for our agency,” Johnson said. “We have done that through several grants and these are the two most recent.”

Tags: two harbors, law enforcement, sheriff, news