NW MERCER COUNTY $60,000 grant will help fund regional jail

The state has approved three separate grants to help get the jail running.
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- The Mercer County Regional Council of Governments is getting a $60,000 state grant to help fund the first year of operations of the Greenville Regional Lock-Up.
COG took over operation of the Greenville municipal jail in May, converting it into a regional operation serving municipal police departments in northwestern Mercer County.
James DeCapua, COG executive director, told his executive board Wednesday that the state Department of Community and Economic Development has approved a $60,000 Shared Municipal Services grant for the project, providing money for operation and some capital equipment purchases such as a prisoner transport van and computers.
Earlier grant
That grant is on top of a $50,000 state Distressed Communities grant awarded to Greenville by the state to pay for some interior renovations of the jail to better accommodate the regional approach, DeCapua said.
COG has already started some of those renovations, in part to make way for the installation of a LiveScan Digital Fingerprint Unit and a Commonwealth Photo Imaging Unit.
The high-tech equipment will allow police to take fingerprints and photos without the old ink pad and paper and Polaroid camera and to transmit that data electronically to state and national data systems.
The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency is also picking up 75 percent of the cost of those units, not only for Greenville but also for the Mercer County Jail and the Shenango Valley Regional Lock-Up in Farrell. The county runs its own jail, but COG operates the Shenango Valley Regional Lock-Up.