Discussion during the latest meeting of the City Council Public Safety Committee focused on two separate traffic resolutions. From left are council members Joe Paterniti, R-Ward 4, Bill Reynolds, R-Ward 5, Jeff Russell, R-At Large and committee chairman, and Jennifer Williams, city clerk. P-J photo by Sara Holthouse

A state grant will help the Jamestown Police Department better police intersections with the highest accident frequency.

Members of the City Council’s Public Safety Committee recently state funding the city applied for under the New York State Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee Police Traffic Services Program for 2024 and 2025. The application for this program has been approved and Mayor Kim Ecklund and Police Chief Timothy Jackson are authorized to participate in the Police Traffic Services Program for one year. Funding comes in at $8,556 provided by the state.

Jeffery Russell, R-At Large and Public Safety Committee chair said this is something that happens annually. Bill Reynolds, R-Ward 5 and Housing Committee chairman said the program strategically targets two types of enforcement, seat belt mobilization enforcement along with regular PTS enforcement.

“The PTS enforcement is directed towards our intersections with the most frequent accidents,” said Capt. Scott Forster, deputy police chief. “We focus on that with distracted driving, aggressive driving and those types of violations.”

Committee members also discussed the purchase of a two 2025 Dodge Durango Pursuits from Robert Green Truck Division for $90,245.16. A second part of this resolution allowed for the department to enter a second purchase agreement with Island Tech Services for the necessary equipment to outfit both vehicles with the cost not exceeding $14,816. Funding for both will come from the American Rescue Plan Act funds.

The committee discussed that the money had already been earmarked as a part of the ARPA funds and that there is a state contract with Robert Green that the police department has been using to get all of their Dodge Durangos. There was also a question about purchasing these trucks locally.

“So when we do these Durangos, the marked units, we have the state contract through Robert Green and we get all of them through there because when we do the other bidding we will have other local places make sure that they are signed up so they can do the bidding for the other vehicles that we get Forster said.

The committee also briefly discussed that different places are used based on the contract and what happens with the vehicles that the police department rotates out.