Republican plan: Yank police funding offer to Wilmington

DOVER — Republican lawmakers are seeking to rescind more than $1.5 million in bank settlement money offered to the city of Wilmington by legislative budget writers to help fight crime because of the city’s refusal to abide by conditions attached to the offer.

Under a bill introduced last week, the money would instead be distributed consistent with annual grants offered to local police departments throughout the state for drug enforcement. Dover police would be ineligible to participate in the pool of money, as they were already allocated about $580,000 in settlement funds by the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee, when the panel approved similar funding for Wilmington in December.

City officials in Wilmington have balked at strings that state lawmakers attached to the crime-fighting money, including providing state lawmakers with police deployment data.