Forsyth County Sheriff's Office Seeks Federal Grant to Purchase Ten AEDs

Cardiac arrest survival falls 7 to 10 percent for every minute a victim goes without defibrillation, a clock the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office is trying to beat. The agency has posted a public notice announcing its intent to apply for $13,443 through the U.S. Department of Justice's FY25 Justice Assistance Grant program. Paired with $2,507 in local matching funds, that brings the total AED procurement budget to $15,950, enough for ten devices at roughly $1,595 each.

The grant, formally known as the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant and administered by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, is a federal formula program that distributes funds to localities based on population and crime data. Forsyth County's FY25 allocation is among the smaller awards the program generates, but the sheriff's office has built a case for it: AEDs deployed across agency vehicles and public facilities can mean a deputy is already holding a defibrillator when EMS arrives.

Forsyth County already participates in the 4 Minute City initiative, an Avive Solutions program that placed hundreds of publicly accessible AEDs across the county with the goal of putting a device within four minutes of any resident. That network helped save at least one life through a bystander response in 2025. The ten agency-grade devices sought in the JAG application would extend that coverage into spaces where deputies specifically work and detain, including patrol vehicles and the county jail.

The public notice does not specify how the ten AEDs would be distributed across agency facilities, and the application materials do not detail accompanying training requirements or long-term maintenance costs. Those are exactly the questions the mandatory 30-day comment period is designed to surface.

Residents, neighborhood groups, nonprofits, and partner agencies have until April 27, 2026 to submit feedback on the application. The window opened March 27, and submissions will be reviewed by the sheriff's office's Public Information Office and Community Relations staff before the agency finalizes its submission through Grants.gov. The public notice, including instructions for submitting comments, is available on the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office website.