The town of Ragland will soon purchase a new police vehicle with the help of $25,000 awarded by Gov. Bob Riley. “It’s going to make a world of difference,” Ragland Mayor Lanis White said. The patrol car will replace an older vehicle with more than 120,000 miles on it and several maintenance issues. Town officials say that the vehicle, one of Ragland’s four police cars, is often out of service for repair, leaving one police officer without a patrol vehicle. Like most municipalities in the current economy, Ragland has been trying to cut back and didn’t have a new car budgeted this year. Police Chief James “Bubba” Brown pursued the grant and White said he is glad that Brown was alert to the opportunity. “The good part about it is that we can use the money saved to help us hire another police officer,” White noted.

The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs is administering the grant from funds made available to the state by the U.S. Justice Department.

“I am pleased to help the Ragland Police Department obtain the equipment they need to effectively protect residents,” Riley said.

Riley informed White that the grant had been approved. “We were surprised,” White said.

The vehicle should be received sometime in June.