The U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Community-Oriented Policing Services Hiring Program is awarding more than $18 million in funding to 15 local and two state law enforcement agencies in southern Ohio in order to hire an additional 134 full-time law enforcement officers.
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In the greater Dayton area, these agencies, along with the amount given to each and the number of officers they plan to hire, include:
- The City of Dayton, $625,000, five new officers
- The City of Fairborn, $250,000, two new officers
- The City of Middletown, $250,000, two new officers
- The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, $752,014, four new officers
- The Ohio State Highway Patrol, $1,281,658, five new officers
The hiring program is intended to reduce crime and advance public safety by having applying agencies identify a specific crime area, and explain how the funding would be used to implement community policing approaches.
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The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio said that 43% of all those who received the award this year listed violent crime as a problem area, while the other 57% is split among a variety of issues such as school-based issues, funding school resource officers, building trust and respect and opioid education, prevention and intervention.
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