Washington - U.S. Senators Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) today announced 12 New Jersey communities will receive $20.8 million in U.S. Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant funding to hire police officers or avoid cuts to law enforcement personnel. The federal grant funding will provide New Jersey communities with the resources to put 78 officers on the streets, including 25 officers in Newark and 14 in Camden.

"This funding will help make sure we have police on the beat and keep families in New Jersey safe from crime,"said Senator Lautenberg, a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science, which funds the COPS program."State and local budgets are stretched thin and this funding will give Newark, Camden and other New Jersey communities a helping hand to put police officers back on the job. These federalCOPS grantsarecritical to ensuring that neighborhoods in New Jersey are secure for the people who call them home."

"This is great news for police departments across New Jersey that have been struggling for months with budget cuts and layoffs, even as they work as hard as ever to keep us safe. We have an obligation to support our police and I'm so pleased this critical funding is on the way,"said Senator Menendez.

TheCOPS Hiring Program fully fundsentry-level salaries and benefits for full-time police officers over a three-year period. Grant funding can be used to hire new officers, rehire officers who have been laid off and retain officers who are scheduled to lose their jobs as the result of budget cutbacks.

The following New Jersey communities have been awarded$20,780,027in COPS Hiring Program grants:

  • Asbury Park Police Department- $1,610,840 for five officers.
  • Borough of Buena- $223,173 for one officer.
  • Burlington Police Department- $642,164 for two officers.
  • City of Camden- $3,794,966 for 14 officers.
  • Township of Irvington- $1,986,472 for eight officers.
  • Township of Little Egg Harbor- $595,568 for two officers.
  • Long Branch Police Department- $1,518,388 for four officers.
  • Millville Police Bureau- $1,171,476 for four officers.
  • New Brunswick Police Department- $1,682,807 for seven officers.
  • City of Newark- $6,028,700 for 25 officers.
  • City of Vineland- $1,242,680 for five officers.
  • Township of Westampton- $282,793 for one officer.

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