The Caldwell County Sheriff’s Department will receive close to $16,000 in federal stimulus funds for equipment and supply upgrades.

Gov. Steve Beshear announced this week the recipients of 87 federal stimulus Justice Assistance Grants.

The total award amounted to approximately $12.8 million.

The sheriff’s department received $15,910 in funds, awarded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Sheriff Stan Hudson said the funds would be used in three ways.

A portion will be spent to upgrade the department’s radio system, to improve communication capabilities in the county’s far reaches, where radio communication is currently difficult.

Funds will also be used to purchase new still cameras for crime scene and accident photography, he said.

The grant will also go toward the purchase of two new rifles for the department.

The department replaced its shotguns with AR-15 semi-automatic rifles a few years back, Hudson said; the two new orders will complete the department’s supply.

The rifles, equipped with are useful in long-range situations or tactical situations “where pistols wouldn’t be safe for the officers,” Hudson said.

The grants announced Wednesday will create or preserve 87 jobs and will be used “to support new and continuing public safety and justice programs, including enforcement, victims’ services, substance abuse prevention and offender intervention,” according to a release from the governor’s office.

The agencies receiving the grants “represent some of the state’s most creative criminal justice programs and most deserving communities,” said Beshear.

“These funds will now enable the recognized programs to hire new employees, provide services and purchase vital equipment and supplies that would otherwise be impossible in the present economic situation.”

The state’s Justice and Public Safety Cabinet will administer the awards.

Other agencies with local ties receiving awards include the Pennyrile Narcotics Task Force, which received $49,733, and the Pennyroyal Center, which received $187,830.

The largest award announced was a $1,955,516 grant to the Kentucky Department of Corrections, for surveillance cameras in the state’s prisons.

Recipients of an additional $2.1 million in awards will be announced later, according to the release.