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Law enforcers eye stimulus

Strings attached to federal money weighed

By: Adam Crisp
(Contact)

Included in this article

Local law enforcement agencies hope to cash in on the federal stimulus package in a big way.

In all, region departments have been promised $2.3 million in U.S. Department of Justice grants. Departments in the region stand to receive new equipment, more officers and funding for a host of new programs.

The $2.3 million doesn’t include millions that departments expect to receive to pay for new police officers over the next three years.

“Hopefully we’re investing this grant money in equipment that will enhance the law enforcement in Walker County by providing better services,” said Walker County Sheriff Steve Wilson.

In all, $2 billion has been promised to law enforcement agencies across the nation as part of the Edward Byrne Grant Program.

Outside Chattanooga, Walker County is the biggest beneficiary with a total award of $149,000. Sheriff Wilson said he’ll use that money on items he has tried to squeeze into his budget over the years but could not afford.

Walker County will use its money for Tasers, portable blood-alcohol testing equipment, fingerprint kits, computers and copy machines, the sheriff said.

Chattanooga police plan to use their money, among other things, to purchase dogs for the K-9 unit, equipment for a new Internet Crimes Against Children Unit, narcotics division equipment and training and technology needs, officials said.

Catoosa County Sheriff Phil Summers said he plans to spend about $43,000 on portable laptops for his deputies’ cruisers.

“Laptops have been part of our plan for a number of years, but the start-up cost is so large, this seemed like an ideal way to get that equipment,” he said.

Sheriff Summers also hopes to get four officers from a Community Oriented Policing (COPS) grant. Unlike the Byrne Grant, departments haven’t been promised anything under the COPS program.

Chattanooga police and the Hamilton County sheriff are applying for a combined 70 more officers through the COPS program. That’s on top of the $980,000 the Department of Justice has promised the departments in Byrne money.

“We thought we’d cast the net wide and see what we get,” said Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Hammond.

The COPS money is awarded on a competitive basis, so the sheriff and Chattanooga Police Chief Freeman Cooper say they don’t expect to be given money for every officer they request.

STRINGS ATTACHED

Any funding the departments receive will be a significant contribution, however. Mr. Hammond estimates one deputy, outfitted and trained with benefits, in his or her first year on the job, costs about $80,000. He’s asking for 20 new deputies.

Because the grant comes with strings, it will be up the Hamilton County Commission to decide if the county will accept money for the new positions, Mr. Hammond said.

The Department of Justice will pay the officers’ salaries for three years, but the local government must pay them after that. Under the rules, the positions must continue to be funded for a year after the grant runs out.

The Chattanooga City Council, during talks with Chief Cooper, first balked at the idea of funding 50 new police officers in the fourth year of the grant, but then agreed to support the application.

“We have had no increase (in officers) since 1999,” Chief Cooper said. “We need to grow anyway, and I had presented a plan to grow the department by 10 officers a year. It was inevitable that we would have to add these positions.”

In Walker County, Sheriff Wilson said he chose not to apply for the COPS grant because it might put the county in a bad spot when the funding runs out.

“After we crunched all the numbers and looked at the specifics of the grant, we didn’t want to go out on the limb and have the limb sawed off behind us,” Mr. Wilson said.

VACANCIES ABOUND

Officials with all the departments interviewed for this story said they had vacancies brought on by budget cuts and hiring freezes.

Chattanooga police have about 15 funded but unfilled positions. The Hamilton County sheriff is down seven deputies. But the grants will fund only new positions, and the departments can’t use the money to fill those vacancies.

“We are behind in the number of officers on the road, and we have never fulfilled our need in terms of school resource officers,” Sheriff Hammond said. “The commissioners will have look at their budget and decide if that’s a good investment.”

Catoosa County is down three deputies from its fully staffed levels. Sheriff Summers said that on his 60-person force, three additional bodies will be a large benefit.

“We are going to use them to work in high-crime areas,” he said. “They’ll be working to combat drug trafficking and property crimes.”

But in Walker County, leaders will just look elsewhere.

“We were hopeful in the beginning stages, but in the current economic situation we find ourselves, it was too big of a gamble,” Sheriff Wilson said.

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