A bill to accept $7,405.08 in grant money for police terrorism prevention equipment has been approved by the Richmond City Council. The funds were made available through Missouri Department of Public Safety’s Fiscal Year 2024 State Homeland Security Program Counter Terrorism Officer (CTO) Equipment Grant. This is the second year Richmond Police Department (RPD)received the funds. The federal funding is meant to enhance local law enforcement’s capabilities to prevent, respond and mitigate terrorism by supporting officers trained under the CTO program. With two CTO-trained officers RPD was able to apply for secure grant money, according to City Administrator Tonya Willim. “In 2019 the Missouri Office of Homeland Security (OHS) initiated a process to analyze gaps in the prevention, response and mitigation of acts of terrorism,” explained Richmond Police Chief Scott Bagley in a memo to the council. “Through these assessments, OHS identified a critical shortage of law enforcement…