The Washington County Sheriff’s Office will be adding two new airboats and a digital evidence management system to its fleet thanks to a $963,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice.

The county board on Tuesday voted to accept the grant, which is part of the Byrne Discretionary Grant Program run by the Office of Justice Programs for the Bureau of Justice Assistance; the program supports projects that improve the functioning of the criminal justice system, prevent or combat juvenile delinquency and assist victims of crime.

Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., was the sponsor.

“With 251 lakes in Washington County, the waterways patrolled by the sheriff’s office vary in both terrain and accessibility,” county officials said in a statement. “Airboats give rescuers a secure and stable platform to navigate through unstable ice and wetland areas, granting access to remote locations. These boats allow responders to safely navigate and transition from solid ground, swamp, ice or open water with enhanced response times and reliability to perform essential lifesaving operations.”

The evidence management system will assist with digital evidence, which is now part of almost every criminal investigation. The sheriff’s office’s current management process “is limited by space, functionality, and performance constraints,” officials said.

The implementation of a cloud-hosted case-management system would give the sheriff’s office and the municipal public safety agencies in Washington County the ability “to efficiently store, analyze and share digital evidence, thereby improving the communication and overall effectiveness of public safety operations throughout the community,” they said.

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