Awash in Google cash
Here’s a problem everyone wished they had. Five Rhode Island law enforcement agencies are trying to decide what to do with $230 million in cash forfeited by Google.
Investigators from local agencies are entitled to the money because they helped a federal investigation into the search engine’s distribution of ads for illegal prescription drug sales. In 2011, Google agreed to forfeit $500 million, and last year the U.S. attorney announced the agencies that helped would receive shares ranging from $5 million to $60 million.
Since then, the Rhode Island agencies have spent or committed tens of millions of dollars of “Google money” to buy new police cars, upgrade technology and purchase weapons. They say they’re still working out how to spend well over $100 million that’s left. The timing could not be better as Rhode Island cities and towns grapple with extreme budget cuts and in some places underfunded pensions.
The Google money was distributed among the Rhode Island attorney general’s office, the state police, the National Guard and the police departments in North Providence and East Providence.
The attorney general’s office got $60 million, more than double its annual budget.
North Providence police are also entitled to the same amount, 10 times its annual budget, according to Police Chief Paul Martellini.
“It’s an extraordinary amount of money,” he said, adding that he hopes his department will be able to reinstitute some programs that have been cut in recent years, such as community outreach programs and putting an officer in the middle school. Officials are discussing building a new police department, and have already spent around $1.2 million for new vehicles and bought new computers and radios.
“It’ll make it much more efficient to respond to calls. It’s all about the service the public deserves,” Martellini said.
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