NORTHAMPTON — Several state grants meant to improve public safety and combat human trafficking have been awarded to the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office, along with federal dollars appropriated by the state to several other organizations within the Pioneer Valley.

The Northwestern DA’s office received a combined $153,141 from two state grants, part of an overall $2.3 million given to law enforcement agencies across Massachusetts. The office received $60,141 from the state’s Human Trafficking Enforcement and Training Program, and another $93,000 from the Project Safe Neighborhoods program.

The money from the human trafficking grant will be used to train police officers and prosecutors in investigating suspected trafficking, and allow for several officers to attend conferences and seminars focused on how to conduct investigations via social media and the dark web.

“Human trafficking victims are often not in a position to be able to make a report to the police, for a variety of reasons,” said Jennifer Suhl, deputy district attorney with the Northwestern DA’s office. “So it’s important that when we start from there, we have to go out and seek the investigation. We have to find the victims and find the perpetrators by being proactive in investigating the crimes.”

The grant also provides for training in collaboration with the Children’s Advocacy Center, with education for police officers, medical personnel and school employees, all of whom are required by law to report child abuse if they have knowledge of it. The courses provide them more information and education about the complications that arise when investigating child trafficking and sexual abuse.

“The issue of child sexual exploitation can happen to the children within our community,” Suhl said. “The idea is to raise awareness for those individuals that come into regular contact with children and families so that they can identify when it starts early, and before something worse happens to them.”

The other grant, awarded through Project Safe Neighborhoods, will provide funding for a gun buyback program across Hampshire and Franklin counties. The program hopes to purchase any unwanted guns from the region and destroy them, and is a collaboration with the Northampton and Greenfield police departments. Those turning in guns will receive prepaid gift cards ranging from $75 to $150 in value.

All other district attorney’s offices in Massachusetts also received grant funding through the Project Safe Neighborhoods program, as well as the Massachusetts State Police, whose barracks in Springfield and Holyoke received $160,000.

In addition to the two state grants, the Northwestern DA’s office also received $124,000 in federal dollars from the STOP program issued through the Violence Against Women Act. The grant allows a continuation of the office’s Domestic Violence Intervention Project, which connects survivors of domestic violence with advocates from groups like Behavioral Health Network and the New England Learning Center for Women in Transition, giving access to resources such as safety planning, acquiring restraining orders and resource referrals.

“We’ve had the grant program for about 20 years now,” Suhl said. “We just have to constantly reapply for it to continue to fund this particular program.”

Other organizations in the Pioneer Valley that specialize in services for survivors of domestic violence also received STOP grants, such as Alianza in Holyoke and Safe Passage in Northampton, which received $44,100 and $98,000, respectively.

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.