The U.S. Department of Justice has awarded $98,495,397 to 179 law enforcement agencies to hire 802 officers under the Community Oriented Policing Services COPS Hiring Program, the department announced. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that 80 percent of the grantees had agreed to cooperate with federal immigration authorities in their detention facilities. Chicago received the same $3.125 million as it did last year despite not cooperating with federal authorities on immigration.
In September, DOJ said that applicants would receive additional points in the application scoring process by certifying their willingness to cooperate with federal immigration authorities in their detention facilities. Cooperation may include providing access to detention facilities for interviews of undocumented immigrants in the jurisdiction’s custody and providing advance notice of an undocumented immigrant’s release from custody. The COPS office awards grants to hire community policing officers, develop and test innovative policing strategies, and provide training and technical assistance to community residents, local government leaders, and all levels of law enforcement. Since 1994, COPS has invested more than $14 billion to help advance community policing.