Latrobe Police Department plans to use $152K grant

Latrobe police department’s computer system will be getting $152,000 upgrade this year.

The department is planning to buy 17 Dell desktop computers including a computer for the evidence room to use for organizing and inventory, and a computer for the department’s Commonwealth Law Enforcement Assistance Network. The network runs criminal histories from Harrisburg after an arrest is processed.

It will be an upgrade for the 14-officer department, which shares five computers and one server, community service officer Beth Straka said.

Last year, the department’s email was hacked with ransomware and malware, she said.

“Our server was vulnerable to an attack for a long time before it happened, and you don’t realize that until something is violated,” Straka said. “What a nightmare that was.”

She applied for a $152,000 state grant to help the department upgrade its computers, and the city recently learned it’s receiving the funding.

“That’s going to completely redo our IT infrastructure for the police department,” said Latrobe Police Sgt. Robert Derk, who has served as officer-in-charge and acting police chief since September. “Right now, we’re working off an old server that’s about 10 years old and breaking down on us quite a bit.”

Two servers with better security will also be purchased and installed using the grant funds.

“We are so happy to be awarded,” Straka said. “We are finally able to move into the year 2023 of technology because of this grant. With inflation and budget restraints this would not have been possible.”

The department should have everything in place by June, Straka said.