Holyoke finance committee approves police tech transfer and two safety grants

The Holyoke City Council Finance Committee on Jan. 14 approved three police-related budget items, including a small transfer to cover technology invoices and two external grants aimed at violence reduction and targeted patrols.

Councillor Patty Divine took a $10,500 transfer (Item 4) off the table to cover pending invoices tied to the department’s new records-management system. A police representative told the committee the new system “consumed half of the IT budget,” creating the need for the transfer to map/data maintenance.

The committee also accepted a Shannon Community Safety Initiative grant worth $606,446.54 (Item 5). The department reported that the award carries a 25% in‑kind match provided by outside partners and that the Holyoke Police Department has been allocated roughly $200,000 of the total to support gang suppression, hot‑spot patrols and community walking beats in specific housing developments. The police representative said the match is tracked in quarterly reports and is paid by partner organizations, not the city.

“HPD has been allocated approximately $200,000 out of that $600,000,” the police representative said, describing planned walking-beat outreach in named apartment complexes and partnerships with local Boys & Girls Clubs.

The committee also voted to accept a $30,000 Project Safe Neighborhoods award (Item 6), intended for joint crime-suppression work with Massachusetts State Police; the grant must be used by June 28, 2025. Committee members asked for a full budget breakdown of how partner organizations would use their portions of the Shannon grant; members were told the department would provide the line-item detail.

All three items passed the finance committee and will be scheduled for the full City Council meeting.