LARSON ANNOUNCES COPS GRANT FOR SOUTH WINDSOR
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 8, 2001
LARSON ANNOUNCES COPS GRANT FOR SOUTH WINDSOR
HARTFORD-U.S. Congressman John B. Larson (CT-01) announced today that the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program under the U.S. Department of Justice has awarded a grant of $125,000 to South Windsor Police Services. The grant, which was made under the COPS in Schools program, will pay for a portion of an officer's salary for the next three years, allowing the department to hire an officer to work in primary and secondary schools.
"Since its inception, the COPS program has helped to put more than 100,000 new police officers on the streets and in our schools, and I believe that its impact can be seen in the dramatic drop in crime over the last few years," said Larson. "I am very pleased that the South Windsor police have been awarded the money to hire a School Resource Officer. The funding to hire additional officers gives departments and schools the added resources they need to ensure students are more secure both at home and in the classroom."
The COPS in Schools program allows local police departments to hire School Resource Officers, who work within schools to teach crime prevention and substance-abuse classes, monitor troubled students, and help build respect for law enforcement. The program combines both law enforcement and education to best serve the students. Since its creation in 1994, the COPS program has provided the First District with a total of $17 million dollars to hire nearly 300 officers. Between 1998 and 2000, the District received more than $7.7 million dollars and hired 142 officers.
The grant was part of a total of $70 million dollars that went to 348 cities and towns across the country that will go to hiring 643 new officers. To date, the COPS program has awarded roughly 31,000 grants to more than 12,000 law enforcement agencies, which has allowed more than 110,000 new officers to be hired.
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