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Bonner Springs and Edwardsville law enforcement agencies can expect to see a little money flowing in from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Bonner Springs may receive up to $14,570 and Edwardsville may receive up to $10,810. These are just two small pieces of an almost $20 million pie that will be allocated to the state of Kansas for law enforcement assistance. An estimated $2 billion will be allocated for law enforcement assistance across the United States.

“These funds are a vital component in our effort to not just revive our economy, but to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity and security,” President Barack Obama said in a press release of why this assistance is needed.

The funds will be made available through the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Program, which will award 40 percent of each state’s total allocation to local governments and 60 percent to the state to be used in such areas as prosecution and court programs, law enforcement programs and drug treatment and enforcement programs. Bonner Springs chief of police John Haley, whose department may see some of these funds, said the JAG program works much like any other grant would.

“We’ll have to come up with a program that fits the criteria of the grant and apply for it,” he said.

The announcement about these funds being available was only made by President Obama on Friday, March 6, which hasn’t given Haley much time to think about how the Bonner Springs Police Department might best utilize such a grant.

“There never seems to be a shortage of things we need,” he said. “I’m sure we’ll investigate it much further to see what we’re going to do with this.”

Other cities and counties in the area eligible for funding include Shawnee, $74,965, Wyandotte County, $840,124, and Lawrence, $278,240.

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