Edison Police Gets Grant To Upgrade Reporting Of Hate Crimes

EDISON, NJ – The Edison Police Department has been selected to receive a non-competitive grant of $76,125 to fight hate crime.

The department has received $75,000 of federal funding as part of the Matthew Sheppard & James Byrd Jr Hate Crimes Grant and another $1,125 in local match.

According to a resolution adopted by the Council during their last meeting, the funding will go towards upgrading the agency’s crime reporting systems to be National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) compliant.

Edison Division of Police is one of eight police departments in New Jersey that was selected to receive funding from the Mathew Sheppard & James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Grant for the project period of Sept. 1, 2024 to Aug. 31, 2025.

The grant allows Edison Police to upgrade its Report Management System, purchase necessary hardware and equipment, purchase Technical Assistance and Training, and any other necessary costs to bring the department’s Report Management System into compliance with NIBRS.

The grant is named after Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr., who were victims of hate crimes. Shepard was a gay student who was beaten to death in Wyoming in 1998 and Byrd Jr. was an African American man who was killed by white supremacists in Texas in 1998.

In New Jersey, the Department of Law and Public Safety (L&PS) administers the Shepard/Byrd Hate Crimes Grant Program.

The grant is currently under administrative review at the NJOAG, according to some media reports.

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