U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana issued the following announcement on Nov. 18.
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 Eastern District of Louisiana (4) municipalities were awarded funding totaling more than $8 million.
“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.”
“From our District’s eclectic and vibrant urban cityscapes to our quaint and rustic rural localities, we all in some capacity have been affected by violent crime and its secondary effects on our communities,” said U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans. “These award announcements highlight the commitment from the Department of Justice to afford state and local partners funding to hire the personnel needed to enhance public safety, combat violent crime, and most importantly nurture community relationships through community policing efforts within our District.”
The following cities, towns or municipalities in the Eastern District of Louisiana received awards:
- City of Bogalusa: $219,088
- City of New Orleans: $7,266,305
- Village of Tangipahoa : $125,000
- Terrebonne Parish Consolidate Government: $500,000
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 million for CHP, an increase of $300 million.
Original source can be found here.