DOVER — The Dover Police Department was awarded $58,939.54 in grants and a private donation Tuesday.

The grants were part of the Law Enforcement Assistance Grants to Police Agencies serving Kent County awarded by Levy Court.

In a small presentation, Kent County Levy Court President Terry Pepper and Vice President Allen Angel, provided a check to Dover Chief of Police Thomas Johnson Jr. “as an expression of deep appreciation for the work the Dover Police Department does on behalf of Kent County residents within the municipality,” according to a news release.

The grant funding is intended to be used solely and exclusively within the city’s law enforcement agency for supporting the law enforcement services within its jurisdiction, with the condition that Dover police provide the county with brief correspondence indicating how the grant is being used.

Shortly after that presentation, Dr. Joel Halpern surprised Dover PD members by making a donation of $10,000 toward the department’s K-9 unit.

“The Dover PD would like to express its heartfelt appreciation to the Levy Court members and Dr. Joel Halpern, who recognized the need for, and can appreciate the value of, this type of investment in public safety,” Chief Johnson said.

“For all the right reasons, traditional sources of public safety funding are very structured with limited flexibility. This funding will allow us to react quickly in support of community policing and community problem solving.

“More specifically, it will support training, our K-9 mission, new community engagement initiatives (youth, seniors, at-risk persons), and help in time-critical situations that require funding support not previously identified in other areas of the budget. With this funding comes the added agility needed to allow us to be more effective in our agency mission.”

Levy Court earlier approved $199,999.55 to be distributed among Kent County’s 12 municipal police agencies. On June 22, a formula for grant amount was set, providing each agency an equal base share of $10,000 plus a $384.52 stipend for each of the 207.5 uniformed officers.

Also Tuesday, Levy Court Commissioner Jody Sweeney presented checks to Camden and Wyoming police departments. Commissioners Joanne Masten and Mr. Pepper presented to the Smyrna Police Department as well.

“Just happy to be able to provide a little bit of assistance to local municipal police departments, who work hard every day to keep us safe, usually on shoestring budgets,” Commissioner Sweeney said,