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The Federal Community Oriented Policing (COPS) grants had been suspended since 2018 because of a nationwide injunction that was lifted earlier this year.
On Tuesday, Barr announced that the Justice Department was awarding nearly $400 million to 596 law enforcement agencies nationwide to hire 2,732 additional full-time law enforcement professionals.
They were chosen from nearly 1,100 applications requesting more than 4,000 law enforcement positions, the attorney general said.
In New Jersey, the grants range from $125,000 earmarked for Bogota police to add a single officer to $1,875,000 each going to Newark and Orange police and the Essex County Sheriff’s Office to hire 15 additional officers apiece.
In Passaic County, Paterson police are getting $1,886,048 to hire 10 additional officers, while Passaic police are getting $1,000,000 to hire eight.
Meanwhile:
- Belleville police are getting $1,375,000 to hire 11 additional officers;
- Sayreville police are getting $1,000,000 to add eight officers;
- Trenton police are getting $1,250,000 to add 10 officers;
- Wildwood police are getting $750,000 to add six officers;
- Garfield police are getting: $375,000 to hire three additional officers;
- Salem police are getting $291,396 to add two officers.
The Camden County Police Department is getting the highest Community Oriented Policing (COPS) grant in New Jersey, $2,141,041, to hire 10 new officers.
“A law enforcement agency’s most valuable assets are the men and women who put their lives on the line every day in the name of protecting and serving their communities,” Barr said.
“The Department of Justice is committed to providing the police chiefs and sheriffs of our great nation with needed resources, tools, and support,” Barr said Tuesday. “The funding announced today will bolster their ranks and contribute to expanding community policing efforts nationwide.”
According to the Justice Department:
The COPS Hiring Program is a competitive award program intended to reduce crime and advance public safety through community policing by providing direct funding for the hiring of career law enforcement officers.
In addition to providing financial support for hiring, CHP provides funding to state, local, and tribal law enforcement to enhance local community policing strategies and tactics.
In a changing economic climate, CHP funding helps law enforcement agencies maintain sufficient sworn personnel levels to promote safe communities.
CHP applicants were required to identify a specific crime and disorder problem focus area and explain how the funding will be used to implement community policing approaches to that problem focus area.
Forty-three percent of the awards will focus on violent crime, while the remainder of the awards will focus on a variety of issues including school-based policing to fund school resource officer positions, building trust and respect, and opioid education, prevention, and intervention.
COMPLETE COPS GRANT FUNDING: Find your town here
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