U.S. Attorney’s Office Southern District of West Virginia issued the following announcement on Nov. 19.
The Department of Justice announced more than $139 million in grant funding through the department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) COPS Hiring Program (CHP). The awards provide direct funding to 183 law enforcement agencies across the nation, allowing those agencies to hire 1,066 additional full-time law enforcement professionals. In the Southern District of West Virginia, two jurisdictions were awarded funding totaling $250,000.
“We are committed to providing police departments with the resources needed to help ensure community safety and build community trust,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “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.”
In the Southern District of West Virginia, the City of Fayetteville and Wood County both received awards of $125,000.
“This funding is much needed by our law enforcement partners, as cities and counties throughout the Southern District face unprecedented fiscal challenges,” said United States Attorney Will Thompson. “These additional federal resources most certainly will improve public safety in the communities of Fayetteville and Wood County by adding front-line community policing officers focused on preventing and solving crime.”
“We are very pleased to receive the CHP grant award,” said Fayetteville Police Chief David Kinzer. “The funding supports the hiring of an additional police officer and will enhance community policing efforts in our city.”
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 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 Biden has requested $537.0 million for CHP, an increase of $300 million.
Original source can be found here.
