The Orange County Public Safety and Emergency Services Committee on Tuesday voted to accept and appropriate state grant funds to support the gun‑involved violence elimination (GIVE) initiative, county officials said.

The committee approved a probation office grant of $239,414 for the July 1, 2025–June 30, 2026 grant term and a separate $95,000 award for a partnering county agency. Both grants were described during the meeting as New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services GIVE awards intended to support targeted supervision and enforcement in areas with high gun‑violence risk.

The probation director, Timothy Davidian, said the probation grant funds two full‑time probation officers and funds “high intensity supervision plus joint operations with both police departments and the sheriff’s office.” Davidian described supervision as GPS monitoring when courts order it, two home visits per month and weekly contact for offenders identified as greatest risk. The county divides supervision geographically, he said, with Newburgh as the focus for GIVE East and Milltown for GIVE West.

A county law‑enforcement representative said the county is a partnering agency on the program and uses its grant portion to augment hot‑spot patrols and provide investigative assistance to local police and probation. “We also have some of that grant money that is directed towards our investigators so that they can go out and assist probation with high risk offenders,” the sheriff’s office representative said, adding that funds also support training and supervisor coverage for multi‑agency details.

Committee members moved and seconded the grant measures and voted “aye” to approve both appropriations during the meeting. The probation office identified the matter as legislative request 232; the partnering‑agency grant was listed as legislative request 02/27.

Why it matters: committee members and staff said the grants expand intensive supervision and collaborative policing in specific local hot spots. The approved spending covers personnel, investigations, training and operational support intended to coordinate probation, municipal police and sheriff’s resources. The measures do not itself change sentencing or court orders; Davidian said GPS monitoring is used “in the order delivered by the court.”

What’s next: staff will implement the awarded funds in coordination with the City of Newburgh, the City of Milltown, the district attorney’s office and other partner agencies as needed, and supervisors will be assigned to multi‑agency details when requested by the primary agencies.