WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department has announced more than $12 million in stimulus funds for the D.C. police force to create or preserve 50 law enforcement jobs.
Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli announced the funds Monday, just days after several large cities like New York were disappointed to not receive any of the Community Oriented Policing Services grants.
Washington received the maximum amount awarded, Perrelli said. He cited the city's high poverty and growing unemployment rates, as well as a hiring freeze and 4 percent decline in the number of police jobs. The jobs will be funded for at least four years.
Nationally, the COPS program will hire or rehire 4,699 officers with $1 billion in stimulus funds. That's just a fraction of the funding requested, though, by police agencies across the country.
