The Hartselle Police Department won’t have to use aircards much longer to connect their vehicle’s laptops to the Internet.

After receiving federal approval, the department is using a $250,000 COPS grant to install equipment in police cars, which will provide capability for Internet access in their police cars.

Hartselle Police Chief Ron Puckett said this grant will cover all equipment costs except for connectivity to the Internet.

“This will replace the five aircards that we currently use and all 19 vehicles will be now able to connect to the Internet,” Puckett told the council Monday night. “However, we will need to adjust the police budget to cover the costs of connecting to the Internet.”

Puckett said the city would have to allocate $6,720 annually to provide the Internet service.

“Without having the connectivity to the Internet, we will not be able to use the new equipment effectively,” Puckett said.

Council members expressed support of purchasing the Internet service for the vehicles by Oct. 1.

“If you can get all of the equipment installed before then, I’d support giving the police department a prorated budget adjustment to get the new system online,” Chappell said.

Puckett said the department received the grant in 2009 to build a 3G wireless Internet network for the city’s police force. However, the city had trouble establishing the network.

“It was going to be outdated by the time we ever launched the network,” Puckett said. “It was only 3G and we already have 4G in Hartselle.”

Puckett said the equipment would create a WiFi hot spot in each police car.