Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has awarded more than $345,000 in grants to more than 60 local police departments around the state over the last three months to purchase body armor vests for their officers.
Wood County Sheriff’s Office received $24,858, and Bowling Green Police Division received $1,419 as part of the Ohio Law Enforcement Body Armor Program.
The Ohio Law Enforcement Body Armor Program is administered by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, with funding provided by the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) as part of its Safety Intervention Grant Program.
The program began in August 2018, with $3.55 million in grants awarded through fiscal year 2019. In August 2019, Yost and Gov. Mike DeWine announced $3.5 million in new funding for the program. Since then, $345,837 in new grants have been issued to 63 Ohio police agencies. A total of 426 agencies have received grants during the life of the program.
