Representative Angie Craig Backs Effort to Secure Additional Funding for the South St. Paul Police Department
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Representative Angie Craig announced her support of the South St. Paul Police Department's application for a $500,000 grant from the COPS Hiring Program. This grant program is designed to provide funding directly to law enforcement agencies to hire additional career law enforcement officers in an effort to increase their community policing capacity and crime prevention efforts. In a letter to the Acting Director of the Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office), Craig argued that funding from the COPS Hiring Program Grant would allow the South St. Paul Police Department to address ongoing staffing shortages and provide greater security to the city.
"Police departments across the nation are seeing major spikes in crime including increases in call load and complexity. These events are occurring while coupled with a workforce shortage," wrote Representative Craig. "South St. Paul is not immune to these effects and additional support would go a long way to ensure public safety in the city and surrounding communities."
"I fully support the South St. Paul Police Department's application for the COPS Hiring Program. If allocated, funding would allow the South St. Paul Police Department to make a concerted effort, alongside Dakota County Social Services, to promote community safety by investing in the creation of additional lifesaving jobs. I strongly urge you to consider their application," Craig concluded.
"In Dakota County, mental health crisis calls for service have surged approximately 23 percent from 2019 to 2021 and each of these calls have increased in complexity and acuity of needs. The United States Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant funding opportunity will position the City of South St. Paul to respond to these needs immediately, alongside our community partners, while reducing the financial burden to our residents," said South St. Paul Police Chief Brian Wicke. "We are fortunate to have an elected body and community partners that support our leadership in the area of response to mental health emergencies and are grateful for the commitment from Congresswoman Craig to help us best serve our residents in need."
In Congress, Representative Craig has made it a priority to ensure that local police departments have the funding they need to do their jobs safely and effectively. Earlier this year, Craig helped introduce theInvest to Protect Act, a bipartisan bill to provide $50 million in grants for small and mid-sized police departments to invest in training, equipment, personnel support, and mental health resources. More recently, Craig helped to introduce and pass legislation to expand the Public Safety Officers' Benefit (PSOB) program after meeting Second District constituent Katie Slifko andhighlighting her story.
You can find the full text of the letter
United States Department of Justice
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services
ATTN: Acting Director Robert E. Chapman
145 N Street NE
Washington, DC 20530
Dear Acting Director Chapman,
I am writing to express my strong support of the South St. Paul Police Department's application for the COPS Hiring Program grant. The South St. Paul Police Department is applying for $500,000 under this opportunity to bring on four new police officer positions. Police departments across the nation are seeing major spikes in crime including increases in call load and complexity. These events are occurring while coupled with a workforce shortage. South St. Paul is not immune to these effects and additional support would go a long way to ensure public safety in the city and surrounding communities.
Over the past several years, the South St. Paul Police Department has seen a surge in call volume, particularly for mental health calls. The increased call load and call intricacy often requires more officer time for response to crisis calls and stabilization services. To better ensure community safety, the department seeks to dedicate more officers to address these calls. Through the COPS Hiring Program, the department would be able to bring on two additional officers to respond to the overwhelming number of mental health calls, allowing other officers to tackle the remainder of the call load. Responses will be handled in partnership with Dakota County Social Services.
The funding from this opportunity would also enable the department to hire two additional officers to focus on building trust and legitimacy within the community through creative problem solving. This work would be carried out in addition to normal 911 responses. The COPS Hiring Program would permit the department to make a major investment in staffing and provide greater security to the city.
This grant program funding will significantly impact the City of South St. Paul and Minnesota's Second Congressional District. The department received unanimous support from their City Council for this opportunity. The City Council has also committed to retain and fund these positions in future years, if awarded. This is a substantial increase to the department's budget and has been recognized as a major need.
I fully support the South St. Paul Police Department's application for the COPS Hiring Program. If allocated, funding would allow the South St. Paul Police Department to make a concerted effort, alongside Dakota County Social Services, to promote community safety by investing in the creation of additional lifesaving jobs. I strongly urge you to consider their application.
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