The Panora City Council recently approved the Governor’s Traffic Safety Grant for the Panora Police Department.

Panora Police Chief Matt Reising says that the department has been using the grant at different times from when he started in 2005. He tells Raccoon Valley Radio what the Governor’s Safety Grant is.

“It’s federal funds on a national level that are distributed down. And it’s basically heightened enforcement for seatbelt usage, and it’s kind of morphed now to distracted driving, cell phone usage, things like that, as well as impaired driving.”

The grant helps police departments purchase things that they may need, but do not have the budget for, like speed signs, dash cameras, speed trailers and handheld radars. Reising adds that the department is looking at getting a speed sign, but isn’t sure yet on which one they’d like to get, so they are waiting until they have more information to start using the funds.