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Press Release

Contact:

Heidi Williamson, Director of Communications

heidiw@bccf.org

610.685.2223
Berks County Community Foundation Announces Package of Grants to Establish Countywide Police K9 Unit

Reading (March 10, 2008) – Berks County Community Foundation announced today that it is awarding grants from several charitable funds to establish and fund the operations of a Countywide Police K9 Unit for the next five years. The unit will be housed within the City of Reading Police Department, which has agreed to provide K9 Unit coverage to other police departments in Berks County as a condition of the grant.

Once certain agreed upon conditions have been satisfied, more than $700,000 in funding for the K9 Unit and other enforcement efforts will come from the Berks County District Attorneys Anti-Drug Fund, with additional support from the Friends of the Reading Police K9 Unit Fund and The Fund for Berks County, all of which are administered by Berks County Community Foundation.

"These grants represent an unprecedented investment in public safety by a community foundation," said Richard C. Mappin, vice president of grantmaking at Berks County Community Foundation. "The committee that reviewed the applications and recommended these grants should be commended for diligently honoring the intentions of multiple donors to multiple funds at the Community Foundation."

That committee included:

  • The Honorable Elizabeth Ehrlich, a retired judge from the Berks County Court of Common Pleas;
  • John Kramer, executive director of the Center for Community Leadership, which works with Berks County municipalities on government issues;
  • Karen Miller, executive director of Berks County Community Foundation’s Pennsylvania Outreach Project, former secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Community Affairs, and former mayor of the City of Reading;
  • Ralph “Rick” Periandi, former deputy commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police
  • Dr. Andres Pumariega, chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the Reading Hospital and Medical Center; professor of Psychiatry at Temple University School of Medicine, and clinical professor of Psychiatry at the University of Medicine and New Jersey-Camden campus; and
  • Berks County District Attorney John Adams.

The grants provide for the following anticipated distributions from the Berks County District Attorneys Anti-Drug Fund:

$467,748 to establish a Countywide Police K9 Unit based in the City of Reading This grant will cover the cost to train five narcotics/patrol dogs and their handlers, purchase five sport utility police vehicles to transport the dogs, pay overtime for the officers assigned to handle the dogs, and pay for the dog’s food and veterinary care for five years.

The Friends of the Reading Police K9 Unit have secured donations to the City of five police dogs, and expect donations of one more. One of those dogs will be trained as a bomb-sniffing/patrol dog to round out the unit. The costs associated with that dog will be paid for with a $45,000 grant from the Fund for Berks County, which makes grants to meet pressing needs in the community.

In addition, the Friends of the Reading Police K9 Unit Fund will continue to accept donations to create a permanent endowment to provide funding for the unit after the initial five-year grant period.

$58,000 to implement a plan to provide countywide coverage by trained police dogs. $8,000 will be used to convene a Countywide K9 Unit Summit, where police chiefs from across the county will be invited to discuss the need for additional police dogs in other parts of the county. The remaining $50,000 will be used to purchase trained dogs for placement with other county police departments to ensure comprehensive coverage.

$180,000 to the City of Reading to support confidential drug enforcement efforts. The Community Foundation will release no further information about this grant in order to protect the safety of the officers involved and the integrity of the Police Department’s drug enforcement operations.

Now that the Community Foundation has completed its grant making process and issued its grant letters, the City of Reading has agreed to the dismissal of a lawsuit it filed last year against former Berks County District Attorney Mark Baldwin and Berks County Community Foundation that related to the fund.

"This package of grants is a classic example of the Community Foundation’s ability to connect resources, people and ideas to strengthen the region," Mappin said. "Based on the grant applications we received, it was clear that Berks County’s police departments need access to trained police dogs to step up drug enforcement efforts. The foundation was able to bring together multiple sources to ensure residents across Berks County have access to and benefit from a fully equipped Countywide K9 Unit."

Additional grants for court-based, prevention and smaller enforcement projects will be announced in April.

Tax-deductible donations to the Friends of the Reading Police K9 Unit Fund can be made by sending a check made payable to Berks County Community Foundation, to the foundation’s office at P.O. Box 212, Reading, PA 19603. Please note "Friends of the Reading Police K9 Unit" in the check’s memo line.

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Berks County Community Foundation is a nonprofit corporation that serves as a civic leader for our region by developing, managing and distributing funds to meet existing and emerging community needs. The foundation currently manages $47 million in charitable assets, which provide more than $2.3 million in grants and scholarships annually for the region. For more information, log on to www.bccf.org or call 610.685.2223.