PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. — The Department of Justice announced Thursday it’s awarding a portion of a $139 million grant to help fund community policing efforts to Putnam County.
The awards provide direct funding to 183 law enforcement agencies across the U.S., allowing agencies to hire 1,066 additional full-time law enforcement professionals. In the Middle District of Florida, three agencies were awarded funding totaling $3,250,000, according to the DOJ.
The following agencies in the Middle District of Florida received awards:
- City of Fort Myers - $1,750,000
- City of Tampa - $1,250,000
- Putnam County - $250,000
The funding comes from the department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. The COPS Hiring Program (CHP) is 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.
The DOJ reported that of the 183 agencies awarded grants, approximately half will be used 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 people in crisis.
“We are committed to providing police departments with the resources needed to help ensure community safety and build community trust,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said. “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.”
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. COPS received 590 applications requesting nearly 3,000 law enforcement positions in the 2021 fiscal year. President Biden has requested $537 million for CHP, an increase of $300 million, in 2022.
The complete list of awards can be found here.
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.
©2021 Cox Media Group
