AUGUST 6, 2009 ISSUE
COPS Grants Doled Out Across State
High Country Agencies Not Recipients
Fifty North Carolina law enforcement departments will receive a total of more than $30 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding, and none of it is coming to the High Country.
Dispersed through U.S. Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grants, the funding totaling more than $30 million will create and save jobs for 202 officers, providing departments with 100 percent of salaries and benefits for entry-level officer positions for a three-year period.
“Senator Hagan worked with her colleagues to pass the stimulus package [to] get money allocated,” said David Hoffman, press secretary for Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.).
“Her primary concern is that it would create or save jobs,” Hoffman said, adding that local law enforcement helps keep communities safe. “[Sen.] Hagan is a strong proponent of local law enforcement [and believes that to] supplement local law enforcement when times are tight is very important.”
The COPS program already existed and the regular budget provides money for it, but the stimulus made more money available, Hoffman said. Stimulus funds are distributed by various agencies, such as the department of justice, through pre-existing programs.
High Country law enforcement agencies were not among the departments selected to receive these particular grants.
“We were encouraged by county management to apply,” said Kelly Redmon, patrol commander at the Watauga County Sheriff’s office.
“The emphasis on the grant was community policing,” Redmon said, adding that the department applied for six positions—four that would have been community policing officers and two for courthouse security.
The grant stipulated that it will pay the salary and benefits for officers for three years, with the county paying for the fourth year. The sheriff had plans for six additional positions on staff to be created within the next four years, so they went ahead and applied for them, since it wouldn’t use taxpayer’s dollars, Redmon said.
“Lots and lots of folks” applied for the COPS grant and “I understand everyone can’t have what they want all the time,” he said, adding that compared to other areas, like Charlotte, Watauga County and other parts of the High Country don’t have problems of the same magnitude.
“We have the same types of crimes, but there are not as many people, so it’s naturally at a lesser occurrence,” Redmon said. “I know a lot of chiefs [and] a lot of departments in Western North Carolina were disappointed. I saw a map [of COPS grant recipients and] there was an appearance of neglect for Western North Carolina.”
The COPS grant was the largest and most publicized of recent law enforcement grants and consisted of a fairly simple application process compared to other federal grants, Redmon said.
The application was online and consisted of a lot of fill-in-the-blanks and a letter of the department’s plan, explaining how the new officers would be utilized for community policing. The application considered the uniform crime report, county population, total county budgets for previous years and for the current year and the county’s physical standing with reserve, Redmon said.
Many factors go into the decisions of “who gets what” and the letter Redmon received said that the application is still being held, so if more money is added, the agency might be eligible at that time, he said.
“I think perhaps they didn’t expect as many people to apply for grants,” Redmon said. “Part of the COPS grant was to retain people that would have been laid off or let go…maybe that was part of [the deciding factors].”
Of the 50 agencies to receive grants, only four were sheriff’s departments.
More grants “are coming down the pipe,” and Redmon said he plans to apply for them. “We intend on taking advantage of grants,” he said. “We always have.”
The Sheriff’s Office did not receive this particular grant, but they have received both state and federal grants in the past and will apply for more, he added.
“My cohort Troy Cook in Avery County had applied for some grants [around the same time I applied for COPS grants],” Redmon said, adding that both he and Cook had recently received state grants from the Governor’s Highway Safety Program.
The COPS grants totaling more than $30 million are part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
According to www.recovery.org, the Recovery Act will save and create three to four million jobs—with 90 percent of them in the private sector—and provide more than $150 billion to low-income and vulnerable households. The website states that by modernizing healthcare, improving schools, modernizing infrastructure and investing in clean energy technologies, the Act will lay the foundation for a robust and sustainable 21st century economy.
For more information, click to www.recovery.org.
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