CLEVELAND — The city of Cleveland is getting a big assist from the U.S. Department of Justice in its efforts to recruit and hire more police officers.
As part of the DOJ's $334 million grant program to assist law enforcement agencies across the country, the city will receive $3.7 million to help the Cleveland Division of Police hire 30 new officers. The money comes from the DOJ's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) with the goal of hiring nearly 1,800 new law enforcement officers nationwide.
“We thank the Department of Justice for the funding announced today and I’m proud of my team who advocated and pushed hard for this grant," Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb said in a statement released by the city.
Bibb says the Justice Department's grant money will be infused into his Raising Investment in Safety for Everyone (RISE) Initiative, adding that the funds "will go a long way in helping increase our police department’s staffing levels and improve public safety in our community. RISE has already produced significant, tangible results, and I’m confident – with this additional funding – that we’ll continue to see more.”
"I believe that these early investments, these new policies will give us the foundation to address this issue. Will it change overnight? Absolutely not, but the trend line is going in the right direction and we have a lot more work to do but we're seeing progress right now in terms of new folks applying to be part of our police department," Bibb added during a conversation with 3News' Emma Henderson on Friday.
The announcement by the Justice Department comes as the Bibb administration has worked closely with Cleveland police union officials over the last few months to attract more recruits. In August, Bibb, Cleveland Police Chief Wayne Drummond, Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 8 President Jim O'Malley and Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association President Jeff Follmer held a "Public Safety Summit."
The result of the summit was several new initiatives to entice more police applicants, including:
- An increase in wages from $16 to $24 per hour for cadets.
- Cadets entering the police academy with a college degree or military service will enter at a higher level
- A $5,000 retention bonus paid out in parts through the end of the probationary period.
- Reimbursement for those applicants who attended the Cuyahoga Community College Police Academy
Last month, Bibb's office announced that the number of applicants to join the Cleveland Division of Police has risen 45% since the Public Safety Summit. The city says it has budgeted for 1,498 police officers, but there are currently 1,197 members of the Cleveland Division of Police as of Friday.
Other Northeast Ohio law enforcement agencies will receive funds to hire more officers. Notably, the city of Canton was given $625,00 for five new police officers, while the Summit County Sheriff's Office will receive $375,000 for three new deputies. You can see the complete grant list below: