Richmond County Daily Journal - October 3, 2010
Congressman Larry Kissell has announced grants to the City of Rockingham and Hamlet Police Department to hire more police officers.
Rockingham will receive $262,840 to fund the salaries and benefits for two additional officers and the Hamlet Police Department will receive $125,211 for one officer. The money will come over three years.
Rockingham Police Chief Robert Voorhees said that the officers hired will be on the current pay level.
“This has been an ongoing discussion,” he said. “We applied for the grant last year and weren’t able to get it and this year the condition was that you had to apply for 50 percent of the previous amount.”
The funding was made possible through the Department of Justice’s COPS Hiring Program.
“We must do all we can to protect and keep citizens safe,” Kissell said. “I’m proud to announce this funding to create new law enforcement jobs, keeping our brave police on the beat and our community safe. These grants are creating and saving jobs right here in our district, and I’ll continue to fight to make sure our tax money comes back home to better our area and protect our families.”
Gene McLaurin, mayor of Rockingham, says that he is in favor of the grant.
“We appreciate Congressman Kissell for going to bat for us,” he said. “With the additional officers we can keep the crime rate down.”
COPS Hiring Program grants go directly to law enforcement agencies to hire new or career law enforcement officers in an effort to increase their community policing capacity and crime prevention efforts.
“We appreciate Congressman Kissell’s assistance,” Voorhees said. “His office has been very helpful any time we’ve had a question about the grant process or anything else. We’re happy to see this funding heading our way.“
The COPS Hiring Program provides 100 percent funding for approved entry-level salaries and benefits for three years for newly-hired, full-time sworn officer positions or for rehired officers who have been laid off, or are scheduled to be laid off on a future date, as a result of local budget cuts.
“This funding is such a great benefit to us, the city of Hamlet and our state,” said Hamlet Police Chief John Haywood. “This funding will allow an additional officer to come on board, make our presence in the community bigger and help get the job done. Our main job is crime fighting, and this grant will sure help us. We certainly appreciate it.”