ARIZONA NEWS
Arizona police departments to receive DOJ funds to hire more officers
PHOENIX — Police departments throughout Arizona are set to receive grant funding from the Department of Justice to hire additional law enforcement personnel.
Nearly $400 million will be allocated to nine different departments, enabling 36 additional officers to be hired across the state, according to a press release.
“The Department of Justice is committed to providing the police chiefs and sheriffs of our great nation with needed resources, tools, and support,” Attorney General William Barr said in the release.
“A law enforcement agency’s most valuable assets are the men and women who put their lives on the line every day in the name of protecting and serving their communities.”
The grant funding will be dispersed through the DOJ’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services Hiring Program.
Here are the agencies getting the funding:
- Apache Junction Police Department, receiving $1 million to hire eight officers.
- Camp Verde Marshal, receiving $125,000 to hire one officer.
- Coconino County Sheriff’s Department, receiving $500,000 to hire four officers.
- City of Maricopa, receiving $375,000 to hire three officers.
- Nogales Police Department, receiving $704,122 to hire three officers.
- City of Peoria, receiving $375,000 to hire three officers.
- Pima County Sheriff’s Department, receiving $1.25 million to hire 10 officers.
- Town of Sahuarita, receiving $250,000 to hire two officers.
- City of Winslow, receiving $250,000 to hire two officers.
Departments that applied for the funds were required to identify specific crime and disorder issues within their jurisdictions and how the prospective funds would be directed to alleviate such issues.
Of the Arizona law enforcement agencies that will receive grant funding, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department will receive the most — $1.25 million — which will enable the hiring of 10 additional officers.
Nationwide, the DOJ awarded COPS Hiring Program funding to 596 law enforcement agencies, which is projected to fund a total of 2,732 full-time law enforcement professionals.
