GRANTSVILLE, W.Va. — The West Virginia State Police has returned to Calhoun County.
The community welcomed troopers back to Grantsville in a small ceremony Friday.
The state police closed detachments in Calhoun, Wirt and Wetzel counties in late 2016 because of budget issues.
“I don’t envy the position our last administration was in. It was in the middle of budget cuts,” State Police Superintendent Col. Jan Cahill told members of the state Senate Finance Committee earlier this week.
He said the agency has had a year to reflect on the closing decisions and decided to reopen the Grantsville detachment.
“We were covering from adjoining counties. Because of proximity and response time we’ve decided to put four troopers back in that area. They will be working out of the courthouse,” Cahill told the committee.
The community is very thankful, Calhoun County School Superintendent Kelli Whytsell told WSAZ-TV at the Friday evening celebration.
“It means everything. We’re a small community and as you know geographically, we’re pretty isolated from the major cities so when a crime happens it takes a long time to respond,” Whytsell said.