BOISE – The Department of Justice today 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 District of Idaho two cities were awarded funding totaling $750,000.
“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.”
Here, in the District of Idaho, the City of Nampa received an award of $250,000, and the City of Twin Falls received an award of $500,000.
“A police department’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,” said Nampa Police Chief Joe Huff. “This grant will help our department with the resources and support we need. The funding will contribute to expanding community policing efforts in our city. We are just thrilled to receive this competitive grant.”
“I’m elated that the Twin Falls Police Department is a recipient of the 2021 COPS Hiring Grant,” said Twin Falls Police Chief Craig Kingsbury. “This will allow the City of Twin Falls to add four new officers and assist us in continuing with our connection-based and community oriented policing strategies in our growing community.”
“This critical investment will extend far beyond the creation of law enforcement jobs. It will strengthen relationships between officers and our community, improve public safety, and keep law enforcement officers on the beat,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Rafael M. Gonzalez, Jr. “I want to thank Chiefs Huff and Kingsbury and their officers for their dedication to making our cities safer. Partnerships take time, effort, and resources, and these funds will help expand innovative community policing efforts already in play in Nampa and Twin Falls,” he concluded.
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 fiscal year 2021, COPS received 590 applications requesting nearly 3,000 law enforcement positions. For fiscal year 2022, President Biden has 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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Project Safe Childhood (PSC) is a Department of Justice initiative launched in 2006.
Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is a collaborative effort by federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and communities to prevent and deter gun violence.
Training and seminars for Federal, State, and Local Law Enforcement Agencies.
Making sure that victims of federal crimes are treated with compassion, fairness and respect.