MAYNARD POLICE RECEIVE STATE GRANTS

MAYNARD - While this fiscal year has not been the best for groups expecting
grants, the state came through and awarded two grants that the Maynard
Police Department has been getting for years.

The department received a $19,200 community policing grant from the
Executive Office of Public Safety and $15,000 from the Governor's Alliance
Against Drugs, Police Chief James Corcoran said. Although the grants were
awarded for fiscal 2004, which ends June 30, the money can carry over into
the next fiscal year.

The governor's alliance grant will allow the department to continue its
DARE Program, or Drug Abuse Resistance Education, at Fowler Middle School
and Maynard High School. Funding will also be used for drug seminars and
field trips, Corcoran said.

In fiscal 2002, the department received a $9,700 DARE grant, but the
program has not been funded for the last two years.

Corcoran said Maynard was able to keep the program going because the
funding carried over, and the program has also grown from grades four and
nine in 1999 to four, five, nine and 12. Last March, about 130
fifth-graders graduated from the 17-week program.

"This will keep us involved in the schools, which we don't want to lose,"
Corcoran said. "This is very huge for us. DARE is a very important program
for us."

This year's community policing grant exceeds the $16,000 the department
received in fiscal 2003 but is short of the $23,750 from fiscal 2002. The
amount a community receives annually is based on population, so Acton gets
twice as much as Maynard, Corcoran said.

Over the years, money from the community policing grant has been used for
numerous projects.

In 2000 the department purchased its first motorcycle, which it uses for
traffic enforcement and programs with children, such as the summer
Middlesex Youth Public Safety Academy. The grant has also helped offset the
cost of buying direct-connect cellular phones for officers.

Police have also made donations with portions of the grant. In fiscal 2003,
for example, the department contributed $1,000 each to the senior citizens'
new van fund and the Maynard Skateboard Park.

"It allows us to help different agencies in the community," Corcoran said.