COPS-HIRING-PROGRAM-APPLICATION-2017 | COPS HIRING PROGRAM APPLICATION 2017

Opportunity Information: Apply for COPS HIRING PROGRAM APPLICATION 2017

The COPS Hiring Program (CHP) 2017 grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number: COPS HIRING PROGRAM APPLICATION 2017, CFDA 16.710) was a discretionary grant offered by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office). Its core purpose was to directly fund state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies so they could hire or rehire full-time, sworn career law enforcement officers, with the broader goal of expanding community policing capacity and strengthening local crime prevention efforts. The solicitation was described as an open solicitation, meaning eligible agencies could apply within the application window rather than being limited to a narrow pilot group.

The funding structure was designed as a cost-sharing arrangement over a three-year (36-month) grant period. CHP 2017 would cover up to 75 percent of the approved entry-level salary and fringe benefits for each funded officer position, and the agency was required to provide at least a 25 percent local cash match. The maximum federal share was capped at $125,000 per officer position over the life of the award. Importantly, the grant calculation was tied to the agency's current entry-level salary and fringe benefits for full-time sworn officers; if an agency paid a particular hire above entry level (for example, because of experience, step increases, or negotiated pay scales), the extra cost beyond the entry-level amount was the responsibility of the grantee agency, not the federal award.

CHP also imposed clear limits on how many officer positions an agency could request. Requests were capped at no more than 5 percent of the agency's actual sworn force strength (as reported at the time of the updated application), with an absolute maximum request of 25 officers. Population-based caps further limited requests: agencies serving populations of 1 million or more could apply for up to 25 officer positions, while agencies serving populations under 1 million could apply for up to 15. Very small agencies were constrained even more; any agency with a sworn force of 20 or fewer officers could request funding for only one officer position. These limits were intended to keep awards proportional to agency size and distribute funds across a large number of jurisdictions.

Allowable uses of funds centered on three hiring and rehiring scenarios. First, agencies could hire new officers, including filling existing officer vacancies that were no longer funded in the agency budget. Second, agencies could rehire officers who had already been laid off from any jurisdiction due to state, local, or Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) budget reductions, as long as the rehiring occurred on or after the official grant award start date listed in the award document; agencies were expected to maintain documentation showing when the positions were laid off and when they were rehired. Third, agencies could rehire officers who, at the time of application, were scheduled to be laid off in the future due to state, local, or BIA budget reductions; in that case, the agency had to continue paying for those positions with local funds until the scheduled layoff dates, and the application needed to identify both the layoff dates and the number of positions affected.

The program also explicitly allowed CHP funds to support School Resource Officers (SROs), but with specific deployment expectations tied to community policing in school settings. Officers placed into SRO roles had to spend at least 75 percent of their time in and around primary and/or secondary schools working on youth-related activities. In addition, the funded SRO time had to be above and beyond what the agency was already dedicating to schools prior to receiving the grant, meaning the award needed to result in a real increase in school-based community policing activity rather than simply replacing existing assignments.

Eligibility was broad but defined. All state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies with primary law enforcement authority were eligible to apply. Applicants needed to have an operational police department by the application closing date (July 10, 2017) or receive law enforcement services through a new or existing contract. For jurisdictions that rely on contracted law enforcement services (for example, a town contracting with a neighboring sheriff's department), the guidance specified that the agency seeking to receive the law enforcement services had to be the legal applicant, particularly when grant funds would be used as part of a written contracting agreement.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity was created on May 22, 2017, and closed on July 10, 2017. The listed award ceiling was $3,125,000, and the program anticipated making a large number of awards (expected awards: 1,500), reflecting CHP's role as a widely used hiring support mechanism for agencies across the country.

• The Community Oriented Policing Services in the law, justice and legal services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "COPS-HIRING-PROGRAM-APPLICATION-2017" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.710.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2017-05-22.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2017-07-10. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $3,125,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1,500 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for COPS HIRING PROGRAM APPLICATION 2017

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