Westmoreland DA announces plan to create collaboration center for law enforcement

Westmoreland County plans to open a collaboration center that aims to allow county detectives to have improved cooperation with state and federal agents.

District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli said she will allocate a portion of a $1.08 million grant from Pennsylvania’s share of federal American Rescue Plan funds to finance what she called a “fusion center.”

“I really had a dream since I was running for this office to have a fusion center here in Westmoreland County,” Ziccarelli said. “You will have agents from state agencies, federal agencies, local county detectives all working out of the same space on different cases. We would have an unsolved homicide room in there and also our new digital forensic lab.”

The planned collaborative unit is expected to use 1,000- to 1,500-square feet of office space, potentially at the Westmoreland County Courthouse. Ziccarelli said she is allocating $100,000 from the grant to pay for the program.

“We would start small and start to build on that,” Ziccarelli said.

State money will also be used to purchase and install 20 new license plate readers and dozens of Tasers and radios to be used by local police departments. Funds will also be allocated toward extending the Crimewatch webpage that provides updates on pending criminal case through 2026 and for the purchase of two SUVs.

Ziccarelli said $68,000 will be earmarked for a long-planned law enforcement memorial that officials want to be placed in the courtyard in front of the Westmoreland County Courthouse.

Pennsylvania Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, R-Hempfield, praised the plan for the federal money funneled to the county via the state .

“There is probably not a whole lot of better ways to spend this money than on law enforcement,” Ward said. “We all know Westmoreland County doesn’t look like some other areas of our state, and we don’t want it to. So this will help ensure that doesn’t happen.”