The Avalon Police Department has been awarded two grants that will go to purchase computers and bullet-proof vests.

Chief Tom Kokoski and Avalon Council safety committee chairman Patrick Narcisi announced the grants at Tuesday’s council meeting.

Kokoski said that a $9,500 grant from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency will pay for a new computer system in the police station as well as laptop computers in the police cars. Avalon is one of the few departments that does not already have computers in the vehicles, Kokoski said, and the reporting software being used runs on a 1980s DOS system.

“It’s basically going to blow up,” he said.

Another grant, from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, will pay half the cost of new bullet-proof vests for the officers.