Past Violations Bar Would-be Applicants from COPS Funding

Washington, May 12 — According to documents released by the Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), a total of 26 police agencies across the nation will not be considered for a share of the $1 billion in COPS hiring grants appropriated by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA; Pub. L. 111-5). Due to a range of violations committed while administering previous COPS awards — some dating back to 1995 — the agencies in question are barred from receiving Recovery Act COPS funds.

As first reported last week by USA Today, 25 municipal law enforcement agencies and one federal entity currently owe the Justice Department hundreds of thousands of dollars in prior grant funds that were misappropriated, improperly reported or otherwise used in ways that violated the rules of the COPS hiring program, which was created in 1994 to allow police departments to hire additional officers.