City of Anna awarded $125,000 federal COPS program grant

Funds will be used to employ school resource officer

The City  of Anna has received a federal community policing grant.

The U.S. Department of Justice on June 2 announced nearly $400 million in grant funding through the Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, COPS, COPS Hiring Program, CHP.  

Funding awards to 596 law enforcement agencies across the nation were announced.

The funding will allow the agencies to hire 2,732 additional full-time law enforcement professionals.  

The awards were part of the $51 million announced in May as part of Operation Relentless Pursuit.  

The City of Anna was one of the 1,100 applicants and has been awarded a three-year, $125,000 grant to hire a School Resource Officer, SRO.

The COPS Hiring Program is a competitive award program which is intended to reduce crime and advance public safety through community policing by providing direct funding for the hiring of career law enforcement officers.  

In addition to providing financial support for hiring, CHP provides funding to state, local and tribal law enforcement to enhance local community policing strategies and tactics. 

 In a changing economic climate, CHP funding helps law enforcement agencies maintain sufficient sworn personnel levels to promote safe communities.  

Funding through the program had been on hold since the spring of 2018 due to a nationwide injunction that was lifted earlier this year.

CHP applicants were required to identify a specific crime and disorder problem focus area and explain how the funding will be used to implement community policing approaches to that problem focus area.  

The City of Anna reported in a news release that its application focused on school-based policing and included a plan which incorporates Anna-Jonesboro Community High School District No. 81 and Anna School District No. 37. 

Letters of support from each school district were submitted with the city’s grant application.

Forty-three percent of the awards announced June 2 will focus on violent crime. 

The remainder of the awards will focus on a variety of issues, including school-based policing to fund school resource officer positions, building trust and respect, and opioid education, prevention and intervention.  

The COPS Office received nearly 1,100 applications requesting more than 4,000 law enforcement positions. 

The Gazette-Democrat

112 Lafayette St.
Anna, Illinois 62906
Office Number: (618) 833-2158
Email: news@annanews.com

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