ABOVE: Danville Police Chief Christopher Yates (file photo)
A variety of Police topics came up during Tuesday (Mar 24) evening’s Danville City Council Public Services Committee meeting. A resolution was forwarded to the full council for application for the 2025 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant. It’s named after New York City Officer Edward Byrne, assassinated in 1988 at age 22 while guarding the home of a drug case witness.
Police Chief Christopher Yates says this “JAG” grant is designed to have 55% go to the city, and 45% to the county. But this time, applications for the 2025 grant were delayed until 2026 because federal legislation was looking to add additional funding to the grant. Chief Yates says Danville has received this funding for many years, and put it to good work.
AUDIO: So, we should see about a 30 – 40% increase on the funds available through the JAG grant. What this does is it helps us with the supplemental enforcement details that we have; where we put more officers on the street during the peak months; and run additional details to help suppress crime.
The chief says that in the past, the city has received about $25,000 from this grant, and the county $18,000.
Meanwhile, Friendly Town in Lincoln Park will soon be opening for a new season. There will be Easter Weekend events Good Friday and Easter Sunday, sponsored by the Corinthian Lodge and STEP Recovery. Then. the annual clean-up and cookout event will start at 10 AM, Saturday, May 2nd.
AUDIO: There’s a lot of people that clean up the same areas; and prepare the same areas, the last three years. They’ve got a lot of pride in the different locations that they have sponsored, as well as adopted.
Finally, it was last week that the Danville Police put out a statement to be aware of scams. Prior to Tuesday’s committee meeting, Chief Yates said it was one of those “too good to be true” notices someone received in the mail. Basically saying, “You’ve won a load of money, but please send us a payment first.”
AUDIO: A person within the county brought it to my attention. It was a check, looked very legitimate; a lot of people can get fooled by that. He was suspicious based on a number of things. He brought it too me, we took a look at it, we did a little research. After a little research; it was a scam.
The chief says if you receive any such notice by mail, phone, or e-mail; contact the authorities immediately.
