Vice President Joseph Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder today announced $1 billion in grants to fund the hiring and rehiring of 4,699 law enforcement officers under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The grants will be administered by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) through the federal agency's COPS Hiring Recovery Program, and will be awarded to 1046 law enforcement agencies from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands and Guam.

The grants will provide 100 percent of the approved salary and benefits for entry level officer positions over a three year period. Police departments receiving the grants will then be required to retain the grant funded positions for a fourth year.

The funding provides much needed support to state and local government budgets, and will help the nation's law enforcement agencies add and retain the manpower needed to fight crime more effectively through community policing.

The City of St. Paul will recieve $6 million under this program, which will allow the City to hire 28 officers.

For more information about the grants, or to learn which law enforcement agencies received funding, please visit www.cops.usdoj.gov.

Gilbert L. Moore
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services
U.S. Department of Justice
202-616-9602
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