Rep. Schiff – New Grant for Burbank Will Allow Police Department to Hire Three New Officers
Burbank, CA – Today, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) announced that the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) had awarded the City of Burbank Police Department $375,000 to create three new officer positions. This is part of a statewide effort totaling nearly $20 million to 39 departments throughout the state of California, aimed at creating 105 law enforcement positions. The COPS Hiring Program offers grants to state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to hire or rehire community policing officers. The program provides salaries 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 community policing plans.
“Since it was first created back in 1994, the COPS hiring programs have helped to put more than 125,000 police officers on the streets and in the neighborhoods – it’s no coincidence that we’ve seen a nationwide decrease in violent crime over the past decade,” said Rep. Schiff. “This grant for the Burbank Police Department will help hire three new police officers, which in a time of belt-tightening and budget cutting will be a great help to the city. I will continue to support this program and look to protect it from the dangers posed by budget infighting in Washington, DC.”
“The Burbank Police Department is very appreciative of Rep. Adam Schiff’s considerable efforts to obtain funding for three police officer positions,” said Burbank Police Department Chief Scott LaChasse. “The grant monies will be specifically dedicated to reestablishing school resource officer positions. The Burbank Police Department has benefitted significantly from Rep. Schiff’s objective to sponsor legislation that contributes to community safety by preventing, deterring and detecting crime.”
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.
“The grants we announce today are part of the Justice Department’s ongoing commitment to help dedicated local law enforcement professionals build safer, stronger communities," said Tony West, Associate Attorney General of the United States. “These awards will help our partners in jurisdictions across the state of California hire more officers and better work with the communities they serve to address public safety issues.”
Schiff has strongly supported COPS Program in the past. In 2011, he offered an amendment to restore $600 million in funding, and in 2009 he authored an amendment which would increase the number of forensic analysts and laboratory personnel working to catch rapists, murderers and other violent felons through the COPS program.
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