Southold gets over $1 million for police cars and radios
Southold will put more than $1 million into 10 patrol vehicles and 20 radios, with Rep. Nick LaLota presenting the award earlier in July.
Southold Town has more than $1 million headed for 10 new patrol vehicles and 20 upgraded radios, money Rep. Nick LaLota presented to the Southold Police Department earlier in July. The award targets two pieces of equipment that shape daily policing in a North Fork town where officers cover a wide geography and depend on reliable communication with dispatchers and neighboring agencies.
A federal project request dated May 10, 2024, identified the Southold Town Police Department Radio Upgrades project and sought funding to acquire 20 multi-band portable radios. The request listed the department at 53095 Main Road in Southold, making clear the money was tied to the town’s own police operation and not a broader county program.
A separate Southold Police Department project document said the funding would also be used for 10 new patrol vehicles. That matters in a town where fleet reliability can affect everything from routine visibility to emergency calls, especially when older cars rack up mileage and spend more time in the shop. For a department that covers Southold’s village center, hamlets and outlying roads, the practical value of the grant will be measured in how well those vehicles stay on the street.
LaLota said he was proud to present $1 million in federal funding to the Southold Police Department. In a related social media post, he called the award part of “Backing the Blue” and said it meant results. A local political post also congratulated Chief Grattan and Southold PD on receiving over $1 million for vehicles and radios.
The Southold award is one piece of LaLota’s 10 community projects totaling more than $11 million, which he said Congress and Trump approved for Suffolk County priorities tied to clean water, public safety and infrastructure. In Southold, the test will be concrete: whether the new patrol cars reduce downtime, whether the upgraded radios improve coordination, and whether response times and coverage improve across the town’s spread-out geography.
For residents, that is the real taxpayer-value question. If the investment works, it will show up in fewer equipment failures, clearer radio traffic and a police force better equipped to cover the North Fork without losing time to outdated gear.
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