TRENTON
— Acting Attorney General Peter C.
Harvey today announced that New Jersey
law enforcement agencies may apply for
federal funding to pay for officer overtime
that supports community policing and homeland
security efforts.
Offered by the U.S. Department of Justice's
Office of Community Oriented Policing
Services (COPS), the Homeland Security
Overtime Program (HSOP) offers state and
local law enforcement agencies an opportunity
to apply for funding to pay officer overtime
for homeland security and violent crime
prevention efforts, the Attorney General
said. Nationwide, up to $60 million in
grant funds will be available to law enforcement
agencies. The grants to law enforcement
agencies range from $25,000 to $3 million,
depending on the population served or
the number of sworn officers on the force.
"New
Jersey welcomes the availability of all
funding that can support our law enforcement
community and the state's comprehensive
efforts to protect our citizens against
terrorist attacks," said Governor
James E. McGreevey. "I urge qualified
New Jersey police departments to apply
for this funding," he said.
"When
every penny counts to support New Jersey's
homeland security efforts, we want to
make sure that police departments in New
Jersey are aware of this potential source
of additional funding," Attorney
General Harvey said. To this end, he indicated
that he has sent a letter directly to
the state's chiefs of police to inform
them of the grant's availability.
"This
is also the first federal grant program
that specifically can be used to pay officer
overtime for homeland security-related
training," he said."The state's
Office of Counter-Terrorism has undertaken
an aggressive training program in terrorism
awareness, but funding could enable additional
officers to benefit from this and other
terrorism-related training."
Harvey noted that many police departments
in New Jersey cannot release their officers
from their normal duties to attend training
sessions because they must then pay overtime
to officers taking their place on patrol.
According to the COPS Office, the grants
range from $25,000 to $3 million, depending
on the size of the population served or
the number of sworn officers. The agency
receiving the grant must provide a local
cash match of 25 percent. The deadline
for priority submissions is June 13. The
final deadline is June 27. The HSOP grant
application packet can be downloaded from
the COPS Web site at www.cops.usdoj.gov
or requested from the U.S. Department
of Justice at 1-800-421-6770.
Governor McGreevey has continually stressed
the need for additional federal funding
for New Jersey's homeland security efforts
and has been working in a bipartisan effort
with New Jersey's Congressional Delegation
to secure additional funds from the Department
of Homeland Security (DHS). The Governor
and the Congressional Delegation have
maintained that the DHS's formula for
distribution of the majority of federal
homeland security funds has not been based
on risk assessment and does not take the
most relevant infrastructure factors into
account.
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Visit:
www.NJHomelandSecurity.com
