West Virginia's FY 2022 Project Safe Neighborhoods Grant Program

In recent years, the City of Huntington has become known as the “Epicenter of the Opioid Crisis” due to an unprecedented rate of drug overdoses. At that same time, the proximity to larger cities has made Huntington a destination for urban offenders and the escalation of violence in the city is directly correlated to the increasing number of transplanted urban offenders. Huntington saw 10 homicides committed in 2021 with 4 potentially being drug related. In 2022, that number increased 20% to 12 homicides with 7 believed to be drug related. In 2020, there were 21 non-fatal shootings in the city. This number increased to 34 in 2021. The Huntington Police Department (HPD) seeks to further their efforts to eradicate the progressive drug and violent crime issues in the city and surrounding areas. To accomplish this, the HPD will use FY 2022 PSN grant funds for three primary purposes. First and foremost, funds will be used to further the HPD’s efforts to eradicate the progressive drug and violent crime issues by increasing overtime of the department’s violent crime task force. Second, funds will also be used for undercover drug enforcement techniques training. Finally, the HPD will use FY 2022 PSN grant funds to deploy its bicycle unit. Deploying bicycle units will effectively combat potential violent crimes and offenders.