Feds shell out millions to help cities hire law enforcement professionals
(The Center Square) – The feds are sending more than $11.7 million in grants to help six New Jersey police departments hire more law enforcement professionals.
The money is part of the Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Hiring Program, a competitive award initiative created in 1994. It intends to reduce crime and promote public safety through community policing.
Collectively, New Jersey police departments will use the federal money to hire 72 law enforcement professionals.
Nationwide, the program awarded $139 million in funding to 183 law enforcement agencies. Combined, those departments will hire 1,066 full-time law enforcement members with goals including addressing high rates of gun violence, building trust between law enforcement and communities, combating “hate and domestic extremism,” and how police respond to people in crisis.
Based on the numbers provided by the feds, in New Jersey, the grants average out to roughly $163,676 per job. That is above the national average of about $130,394 per job.
“Our first responders put their lives on the line every single day to keep our communities safe, running toward the danger instead of away,” U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-New Jersey, said in a news release following a meeting with Bergen County law enforcement officials.
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