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11 Dayton police officers' jobs saved by stimulus money

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By Kyle Nagel and Laura Bischoff
Staff Writer Updated 10:18 PM Tuesday, July 28, 2009

DAYTON — Randy Beane, president of the Dayton Fraternal Order of Police, sat through the somber sessions Monday, July 27, during which 11 officers learned the procedures for their coming layoffs: Where to turn in equipment, where to sign up for insurance.

On Tuesday, July 28, those same officers learned that they will continue to have jobs next week.

City Manager Rashad Young announced that the federal government had awarded the city a $5.6 million, three-year grant to hire or retain 21 police officers. The grant will allow the city to keep the 11 officers who were told this month that they would lose their jobs on Monday, Aug. 3.

“This is the happiest day we’ve had in weeks,” Beane said. “Some of them broke down in tears. It’s been an extremely emotional few days.”

The grant will come from the Justice Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), which received $1 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

About 5,500 officers are expected to be added or retained nationally because of the program, according to the Justice Department.

Young said the city will ask the Justice Department whether the remaining 10 positions must be new hires or whether they can be retained officers.

Young said the federal grant only covers salary and the other costs of hiring or retaining personnel. The city had requested $9.6 million to retain or hire 36 officers, he said.

“Since this grant has a limited time period of three years, it is very helpful in addressing our current budget issues,” Young said. “However, we knew we have to use this funding wisely so we do not compound our financial problems down the road when the grant program ends.”

Several Ohio cities, including Dayton and Springfield, will receive millions of dollars in federal stimulus money to pay for 336 police officers over the next three years, the White House announced Tuesday.

The cities must commit to retaining the officers for a fourth year under the terms of the grants.

Staff Writer Laura Bischoff contributed to this report. Contact Staff Writer Kyle Nagel at (937) 225-7389 or knagel@DaytonDailyNews.com

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