A $110,500 grant to the Auburn Police Division will help educate citizens about sexual predators and keeping Auburn children safe.
The grant was awarded by the Community Oriented Policing Services Office of the U.S. Department of Justice, specifically from the Child Sexual Predator Program.
"It's designed to protect our children and to reduce and prevent child endangerment and to keep sexual predators off the streets of Auburn," said Capt. Tom Stofer of the Auburn Police Division. "It's going to be used for the investigation of cases along those lines (involving sexual offenses), and it will be used to educate the public regarding sexual predators."
Specifically, the Police Division will educate the public by teaching people how to accurately identify a sexual predator and how to file a report about incidents involving predators.
According to the 2010 COPS CSPP Awards List, the program awarded grants to law enforcement agencies in 18 states this year. Auburn was the only agency in Alabama selected for the grant.
"I'd just like to think we were nominated and chosen because we put together a good package," Stofer said. "I think they were just looking at agencies they thought would be best utilizing the money."
Like all nominated agencies, the Auburn Police Division was required to meet certain standards in order to be considered eligible for the grant awarded.
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