Courtesy United Way

The Department of Justice announced Thursday it was giving $139 million dollars for law enforcement agencies to hire and advance community policing.

Utah received $813,436 to be used by three agencies.

The following municipalities in Utah received awards:

• City of Orem – $500,000
• San Juan County – $188,436
• North Park Police Department in Logan – $125,000

The grant funding came through the department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services Hiring Program. The awards provide direct funding to 183 law enforcement agencies across the nation, allowing those agencies to hire 1,066 additional full-time professionals.

“We are committed to providing police departments with the resources needed to help ensure community safety and build community trust,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland in a press release. “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.”

Courtesy Orem city

The grant will give Orem the opportunity to hire four new police officers that will focus specifically on community policing, according to Capt. Todd Mallinson. Mallinson is one of the officers in charge of grant applications.

“The new officers will work with businesses and educate residents through community policing efforts,” Mallinson said. “The grant pays a percentage of the wages for four years.”

While this will help put the department closer to the desired size, it will still be down by seven officers.

Mallinson said that in 2020 the department received a COPS grant for $370,000.

“Community oriented policing is vital to community safety and building trust between law enforcement and the community,” said Acting United States Attorney Andrea T. Martinez in a press release.

CHP is a competitive award program intended to reduce crime and advance public safety through community policing. It 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 press release read.

According to the Department of Justice, 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 FY21, COPS received 590 applications requesting nearly 3,000 law enforcement positions. For FY22, President Biden has requested $537 million for CHP, an increase of $300 million.

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, the press release noted.

Newsletter