Update, comment from Chief Gaudett: “The Department of Justice has been such a key partner, both in working with police on criminal investigations but also providing funding to help the Police Department put more officers on the street, or in this case in and around our schools,” said Police Chief Joseph L. Gaudett Jr. “This grant will add 10 additional school resource officers. Nothing replaces boots on the ground.”
News release from Connecticut U.S. Attorney’s Office:
Acting U.S. Attorney Deirdre M. Daly, in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), today announced funding awards for the District of Connecticut. The grantees and amount awarded include:
City of Bridgeport $2,247,250
Farmington Police Department $125,000
City of Hartford $1,794,000
Norwich Police Department $500,000
In addition to these COPS funding awards, earlier today the Justice Department announced that the Department’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) will provide $150,000 in Fiscal Year 2013 funding to the Town of Newtown to fund two positions to ensure school safety, such as school resource officers.
“In the wake of past tragedies, it’s clear that we need to be willing to take all possible steps to ensure that our kids are safe when they go to school,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. “These critical investments represent the Justice Department’s latest effort to strengthen key law enforcement capabilities, and to provide communities with the resources they need to protect our young people. Especially in a time of increased challenges and limited budgets, our top priority must always be the safety and well-being of our children.”
Overall the COPS Office funded awards to 263 cities and counties, aimed at creating 937 law enforcement positions. More than $125 million will be awarded nationally, including nearly $45 million to fund 356 new school resource officer positions.
“Protecting our children and maintaining our schools as a safe and enriching learning environment are critically important, and I am pleased to join the Attorney General, the COPS Office and BJA in announcing these grants,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Daly. “This funding will help provide Bridgeport, Farmington, Hartford, Newtown and Norwich with the resources needed to accomplish this vital mission.”
“The COPS Office is pleased to assist local law enforcement agencies throughout the country address their most critical public safety issues,” said Joshua Ederheimer, Acting Director of the COPS Office. “Funding from this year’s program will allow many cities and counties to apply new sworn personnel to issues related to violent crime, property crime, and school safety.”
The COPS Hiring Program offers grants to state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to hire or rehire community policing officers. The program provides the salary and benefits for officer and deputy hires for three years.
Grantees for the 2013 hiring program were selected based on their fiscal needs, local crime rates, and their community policing plans. There was an additional focus this year on agencies requesting assistance in developing school safety programs that would include the hiring of a school resource officer. School resource officer positions funded by the COPS Office are sworn law enforcement positions that work within a school district or facility, interacting directly with school administrators and students.
The COPS Office is a federal agency responsible for advancing community policing nationwide. Since 1995, COPS has awarded over $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 approximately 125,000 officers and provide a variety of knowledge resource products including publications, training, and technical assistance.
For the entire list of grantees and additional information about the 2013 COPS Hiring Program, visit the COPS website at www.cops.usdoj.gov.
*** This is good news if the money is actually spent correctly on the right things such as new security personnel, safety equipment, cameras, emergency training, school emergency literature for school staff, students and parents just to name a few. City schools need to be safe in every way for all, inside and outside school property. Best news regarding public schools in Bpt in a long time! *** What’s next? ***
Mojo, good points but as someone would say, as long as there is “ACCOUNTABILITY and TRANSPARENCY.”
Ron,
Thanks for taking up the torch in this regard.
I also mention OPEN as a characteristic and that means something more than an announcement.
This is not our first COPS grant in the City. So how do we track when the money is received and what it is used to fund?
Perhaps the Mayor would like to open up a section on the City web site, similar to Public Schools, where grants info can be displayed? That would be more useful overtime than his spending time working on the St. Mary’s park restoration this morning. (And would take no more of his valuable time, either!)
COPS grants seem to pay less in the second or third year. The math is not even so the best we can say is these ten “school resource officer” (SRO) positions will cost the Feds $220,000 each over three years. What is the City’s requirement in this regard? Does that come with the story? Where will they be used? How many SROs do we have working in the schools today? Are there any other grant programs, Federal, State or private foundations that provide money for the City programs (like Lighthouse, etc.) that are not educational grants to be listed on the City site? Time will tell.
Mr. Lee,
At least we now know how the City anticipated paying for the probable evening Overtime for the TWO Officers who foiled the planned and legal Department of Education meeting the other evening from taking place. Were they anticipating a hostile takeover and wearing Riot Gear?
Fingerprint scanners?