Capitol Beat is a nonprofit news service operated by the Georgia Press Educational Foundation that provides coverage of state government to newspapers throughout Georgia. For more information visit capitol-beat.org.

The Justice Department has awarded more than $1.2 million in grants to law enforcement and public safety initiatives in South Georgia.

The grants include funding for the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, a key component of the Justice Department’s strategy for reducing violent crime, said Jill Steinberg, U.S attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.

“In addition to fueling the fight against violent crime through Project Safe Neighborhoods, these grants will assist local agencies and communities in keeping their residents safe and improving outcomes for vulnerable citizens,” Steinberg said.

The largest of the grants – $500,000 – will go to the Waycross Area Shelter for Abused Persons to improve the greater Ware County area criminal justice system’s response to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. The collaborative effort with the city of Waycross will implement a project that serves communities throughout the region.

East Georgia College in Swainsboro will receive $399,117 to work with Sunshine House and the Swainsboro Police Department to provide planning, education and training activities to prevent and respond to incidents of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

The city of Savannah is getting a $119,429 grant to purchase two new bomb suits for the Savannah Police Department’s Bomb Unit, replace outdated equipment used by the Savannah police Underwater Search and Recovery Team, and to buy new traffic enforcement equipment for the Garden City Police Department.

The Liberty County Sheriff’s Office will get $99,990 for a program using its K9 Unit to locate or prevent the wandering of individuals with dementia or developmental disabilities.

An end-of-fiscal-year 2023 PSN grant to the Southern District of Georgia of $98,657 will distribute funding to Savannah, Augusta, and Brunswick, the three most populous cities in the Southern District, in collaboration with local public safety agencies to help achieve reductions in violent crime.