The Department of Justice on Thursday awarded more than $139 million in grant funding through the department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) COPS Hiring Program (CHP).
The grants provide direct funding to 183 law enforcement agencies across the nation, allowing those police departments to hire 1,066 additional full-time law enforcement professionals.
“This is a wonderful opportunity that helps law enforcement continue building trust with the citizens they have a duty of protecting,” said Lisa McCormick, a progressive activist who helped spread awareness of the grants.
McCormick said police departments in Camden County, as well as the municipalities of Bayonne, New Brunswick, Paterson, Plainfield, and Prospect Park will share close to $12 million in funding awarded to New Jersey.
Federal authorities invited local law enforcement agencies to submit grant applications in May, according to McCormick.
“The funding will allow Bayonne to hire 12 new police officers while Camden will add 20 officers to its roster, New Brunswick will hire six new officers,” said McCormick. “Paterson will also add 20 officers to its roster, Plainfield will hire 10 new officers and Prospect Park will put four new officers to work.”
“We are committed to providing police departments with the resources needed to help ensure community safety and build community trust,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said. “The grants we are announcing today will enable law enforcement agencies across the country to hire more than 1,000 additional officers to support vitally important community-oriented policing programs.”
“The funding announced today will help make our neighborhoods safer and build trust between local law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve,” said U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig. “Community-oriented policing has led to great strides in many of our New Jersey communities, and we look forward to continuing to strengthen those programs moving forward.”
The COPS Hiring Program is a competitive grant program designed to provide funding directly to law enforcement agencies to hire and/or rehire additional career law enforcement officers in an effort to increase their community policing capacity and crime prevention efforts. The CHP has nearly $140 million in funding for Fiscal Year 2021.
CHP is a competitive award program intended to reduce crime and advance public safety through community policing. CHP provides funds directly to law enforcement agencies to hire new or rehire additional career law enforcement officers, thereby increasing their community policing capacity and crime prevention efforts.
Of the 183 agencies awarded grants today, approximately half will use the funding to focus on building legitimacy and trust between law enforcement and communities; 41 agencies will seek to address high rates of gun violence; 21 will focus on other areas of violence; and 19 will focus CHP resources on combating hate and domestic extremism or supporting police-based responses to persons in crisis.
The complete list of awards can be found by clicking here.
Since its creation in 1994, COPS has invested more than $14 billion to advance community policing, including grants awarded to more than 13,000 state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to fund the hiring and redeployment of more than 135,000 officers. CHP, COPS’ flagship program, continues to be in demand today: In FY21, COPS received 590 applications requesting nearly 3,000 law enforcement positions. For FY22, President Joe Biden requested $537 million for CHP, an increase of $300 million.
To learn more about CHP, please visit https://cops.usdoj.gov/chp-award. For additional information about the COPS Office, please visit https://cops.usdoj.gov/.
The COPS Office is the federal component of the Department of Justice responsible for advancing community policing nationwide.
The only Department of Justice agency with policing in its name, the COPS Office was established in 1994 and has been the cornerstone of the nation’s crime-fighting strategy with grants, a variety of knowledge resource products, and training and technical assistance.
Through the years, the COPS Office has become the go-to organization for law enforcement agencies across the country and continues to listen to the field and provide the resources that are needed to reduce crime and build trust between law enforcement and the communities served.
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