Jamestown will receive about $260,000 from the state to augment its police budget.

Two City Council committees voted to accept $261,315 from the state’s Gun Involved Violence Elimination program. The state awarded the county $682,014 in GIVE money, a portion of which is then awarded to the city.

Accepting the grant will be on the council’s agenda for full council approval later this month. There was little discussion of the items during the council’s work session.

“GIVE funds have facilitated partnerships with the District Attorney’s Office, Parole, Probation, Department of Development, the New York State Police, and other law enforcement agencies within this community, and as a result, it has led to a tremendous amount of information sharing,” states a staff memo included in the council’s agenda. “Joint targeted patrols in city hotspots have been a great deterrent of crime. These resources will enable the Jamestown Police Department to provide overtime for officers to continue working details in conjunction with our GIVE partners. This award also includes funding for two part-time Crime Analysts, one part-time GIVE coordinator assistant, and money to attend training.”

Chautauqua County and Jamestown have been receiving GIVE funding since the program was created in 2015 by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Funding has more than tripled since the county’s first GIVE grant was received. In addition to Jamestown Police Department initiatives, this year’s state money will pay for 1.5 assistant county district attorneys, equipment for the county’s Homicide Investigation Team, anti-violence interns, training for the Forensic Investigation and Homicide Investigation teams, a field intelligence officer in the county Sheriff’s Office, crime analysis software, joint Sheriff’s Office-Jamestown Police Department details, community and youth engagement activities, and home visit, compliance and warrant checks.

Council members also discussed hiring a part-time GIVE coordinator assistant for the Jamestown Police Department. The position is paid for by a GIVE grant.

“This employee will assist by reviewing the GIVE grant tracking details, trends, scheduling details, and organizing community and youth engagement events. The assistant will collect data from log sheets used in GIVE details and enter them into the tracker and will work with the Coordinator to update the GIVE strategy implementation,” a staff memo included in the council’s agenda states.