FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 3, 2003

LARSON ANNOUNCES $1.5 MILLION FEDERAL "COPS" GRANT FOR HARTFORD

HARTFORD- U.S. Congressman John B. Larson (CT-01) today announced that the City of Hartford has been awarded a federal Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant of $1.5 million to hire additional police officers. The grant was awarded by the U.S. Department of Justice under the Universal Hiring Program (UHP) and will allow the city to hire 20 additional officers.

"I am thrilled that the City of Hartford has been awarded such a significant grant to increase the number of officers serving the community," said Larson. "This grant will help the City of Hartford to enhance the capacity of the police department in the midst of a extremely difficult budget year and I believe it will play an important role in addressing the ongoing needs of the city and the department."

Since 1995, the COPS program has provided funding to allow municipalities to hire more than 118,000 officers, helping to make our neighborhoods, schools and communities safer. The grant for Hartford was part of $99.3 million in funding awarded to 204 local law enforcement agencies in 49 states and three territories to fund the hiring of 1,319 police officers.

The program provides up to 75 percent of the total cost of salary and benefits of each new officer for three years, up to a maximum of $75,000 per officer. Local funds pay the remainder and the grant's recipient is required to retain the new positions for a minimum of one local budget cycle after the grant funds expire.

Congressman Larson wrote a letter to Carl Peed, the Director of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services in the U.S. Department of Justice, urging that Hartford be awarded the funding and facilitated meetings regarding the grant between local officials and officials in the Department of Justice.

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