U.S. Rep. Steven C. LaTourette (R-Bainbridge Township) says the recently enacted stimulus legislation provides $1 billion for local law enforcement agencies to hire or rehire police officers through the COPS program without a local match.

LaTourette said the stimulus bill, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, was signed into law on Feb. 17.  The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS office, has not finalized the application process for local departments to apply for a slice of the estimated $1 billion in police hiring grants, but application materials should be available soon. LaTourette said most departments already have a relationship with the COPS office, but can check the web site for more information as it becomes available at www.cops.usdoj.gov.

LaTourette said the popular COPS hiring grants program was restarted last year, but only a handful of Ohio departments were able to apply for grants due to limited funding.  LaTourette said it appears that most local departments can apply for a hiring grant from this new $1 billion pool of funds through the COPS Hiring Recovery Program.  Grant funding will be based on current entry-level salaries and benefit packages, but departments can pay higher salaries or benefits using their own funds.  Funds can be used to hire an officer, rehire an officer or prevent a scheduled future layoff of an officer.  A hired or rehired full-time officer must be retained for at least a year, according to the COPS office.  There is no local match for these grants, while it normally would be 25 percent, and the grant covers salaries and benefits for three years.

“I know our local departments are facing rough financial times, and there have been some department layoffs and hiring freezes across the state,” LaTourette said.  “I’m not sure if any NE Ohio departments will pursue this funding, but I want to make sure our chiefs know about it and don’t miss out on applications if they want to seek federal funds.”

LaTourette said he is pleased that some departments will benefit from this new COPS program, but opposed the overall stimulus bill because he thought it was too expensive, had too much unnecessary government spending and didn’t focus enough on job creation or keeping people in their homes.

LaTourette said the Department of Justice has not provided much detail about the new program to congressional offices yet, but always provides updates to the representatives and senators.  LaTourette said he will notify local departments with additional details as they become available, but said local chiefs should monitor the COPS web site and should call 1-800-421-6770 and ask to be put on a mail or email alert system through the COPS Response Center. Law enforcement officials can also email questions to askCopsRC@usdoj.gov.  All grant applications, when available, must be made online at www.cops.usdoj.gov.