POLICE RECEIVE HIGH-TECH SURVEILLANCE EQUIPMENT

Federal Program Helps Local Law Enforcement Have Latest In Technology

MONROE -- City police have received between $15,000 and $20,000 worth of
high-tech crime-fighting equipment, thanks to a federal program.

The Monroe Police Department received the surveillance equipment through
the technology transfer program administered by the Army Electronic Proving
Ground Counterdrug Office.

Equipment was provided to the department free.

It arrived in late December, said a spokesman for the Police Department.
"The department is proud to be selected as a participant in the Technology
Transfer Program," said Chief Bobby Haulk. "The program is a means for law
enforcement agencies, such as ours, to obtain equipment and training at no
cost to the citizens of Monroe."

Congress enacted the Technology Transfer Program to help local law
enforcement agencies. The program's goals are to identify local law
enforcement requirements, match them with counterdrug technologies and
transfer those technologies to selected law enforcement agencies.

The city applied for the equipment in the fall, after spotting a Web site
for the program, the spokesman said.

Electronic Proving Ground officials provided training on the equipment to
the police department.