The Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System recently awarded grants to DeKalb County law enforcement agencies for ruggedized computers to be mounted in squad cars.

ILEAS awarded a total of $75,174 to DeKalb County on Monday, $34,170 of which will be received by the DeKalb Police Department, or the equivalent of five new ruggedized computers.

“In these tough economic times, the city ended up in a deficit situation this last fiscal year so any outside funding we can get to assist with purchases is greatly appreciated,” said DeKalb Police Chief Bill Feithen.

Feithen said they expect to receive the ruggedized computers in about a month.

“ILEAS did a mass purchase of the ruggedized computers so in about a month we’ll have a representative that will meet with ILEAS and accept the computers and install them in the squad cars,” Feithen said.

According to a press release from ILEAS, the organization awarded $3,075,300 to 205 police and sheriff departments throughout the state. The release states that each ruggedized computer costs $6,834 and is outside the financial means of many agencies.

“The city did not have anything budgeted for tactical equipment needs so this was a great opportunity and we’re grateful to receive this grant,” Feithen said.

Besides being able to work more efficiently, these computers can also withstand more, Feithen said.

“They’re classified as rugged for a reason,” Feithen said. “The computers in police vehicles have to sit in extreme hot and extreme cold, and officers bump them getting in and out of the squad cars. These are ruggedized laptops and obviously they have a lot of security features because of the information that goes through them.”

The ILEAS website states the funds for this grant came from Federal Homeland Security grants through the Illinois Terrorism Task Force and were administered by ILEAS. This year, the interest in the grant was more than any other year. ILEAS budgeted for 450 computers and received requests for 923 computers from more than 200 agencies. The requests were reviewed by a grant committee consisting of five law enforcement agencies that did not apply for the grant, according to the website.

“This shows the diligent work of the departments to receive this money and finance this project outside of our budget and tax dollars,” said DeKalb Mayor Kris Povlsen. “This is a great opportunity for us.”

Feithen said the new computers will replace the outdated computers the department currently works with.

“The computers they are replacing are beyond their useful life,” Feithen said. “After five or six years they have difficulty operating with new software and the laptops that we’re replacing are about seven years old.”

Povlsen said this new technology will expand the abilities of the police department.

“It’s a win-win situation,” Povlsen said. “The more technology and abilities we have, the safer our community will become.”