STATE POLICE

    General Government Operations received from both the General Fund and the Motor License Fund an increase of $17.5 million over last fiscal year. The state police intends to train 244 cadets in order to maintain the maximum level of authorized enlisted personnel. The cost for their salaries and benefits will be $2.8 million in the cadet status. $3 million will be spent when they become troopers for their salaries. $2.5 million will be allocated for equipment to improve criminal investigations. Some of the equipment that might be included: night scopes, heat vision cameras, special audio equipment, and money to reconstruct accident scenes. $1.5 million will be used to replace a worn helicopter used for traffic enforcement and criminal investigations. The remaining $9.3 million dollars will be allocated to upgrade the crime labs, with the rest going to administration.

    The appropriation entitled ACLEAN@ Commonwealth Law Enforcement Assistance Network, which this budget year received $11.9 million from the State Police, is a continuing program from last fiscal year. This network is a proprietary communications system which will allow dissimilar information technologies to be used with other law enforcement agencies. This network will also allow law enforcement agencies access to the Justice Network. The Justice Network will enable state and local criminal justice agencies to share time-sensitive information necessary to support criminal justice functions. They will be able to establish a proprietary network on the Internet that allows analytical searches. Information will be entered into the system that will track a criminal through every step of the judicial process. Initially, the information will be read-only, but in the near future it will become interactive. The budget appropriates $9 million for the Criminal Justice System in this year=s budget, with most of the money being spent on main frame computers and software.

    The Municipal Police Training appropriation was increased by $270,000 budget. The prime focus behind this increase is to enable police officers, especially police chiefs, to deal effectively with community relations, and strengthen their skills regarding conflict resolutions.