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By Jerry Curry, Staff Writer
James Moore saw a need and stepped up. Moore is a third shift Sergeant for the Salem Police Department. Budgets are tight and 32-year-old Moore found an opportunity to improve the police department by writing grants. He has been very successful so far, obtaining $163,500 at this point, and he’s not done yet.
In April 2023, Moore applied for a SAVE grant from the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute and received $6,000. This grant allows his department to have off-duty police officers conduct a highly-visual escort for school buses. Officers will look for drivers committing stop-arm violations and other dangerous driving habits. Illegal school bus passing is a major threat to students as they load and unload the bus. In the past 53 years there have been 1,267 fatalities. Seventy-three percent involved students 9 and younger.
In October 2023, with the help of Lindsey Wade-Swift, the department received $146,000 which will be used to purchase software. Wade-Swift is a member of the Washington County Community Foundation. It is the same software used by the Indiana State Police, making it possible to provide internet access to all police cruisers as well as showing the location of each police car. This was a very competitive grant since it was available to agencies all over the United States.
In a grant from Hoosier Uplands, the police department received a grant for $11,000 for six new in-car police radios. This covers half the fleet with the possibility of another grant serving the rest of the fleet.
Moore is somebody that thoroughly loves his job. When asked about why he is so adamant about the grants, he responded and said, “It provides the department with proper equipment, and it’s a blessing to get the grants.” Moore is currently pursuing equipment such as hand-held radios, AEDs in each car and Flock Safety cameras that read license plates.
Moore works 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. and has two children, 4 and 5 years old, as well as a 10-year-old nephew that he has custody of. He is a 2012 graduate of Salem High School and Prosser where he studied HVAC. However, a ride along with his brother-in-law, a fellow officer, drastically changed his career path. Moore was initially a Reserve Officer to see if the job was a good fit for him in 2016. Then in 2017, he joined the police force. He can be spotted at night driving a Dodge Durango SUV police cruiser.
Sgt. James Moore