Wichita police get $875,000 grant to hire seven officers for three years

Wichita police are getting a federal grant for $875,000 to hire seven officers.

U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister announced the Justice Department grant on Tuesday. Wichita is one of 15 law enforcement agencies in Kansas to receive grant money.

“These grants put the money where it is needed — on the streets,” McAllister said in a news release. “Kansans will be safer because of this federal spending.”

The funding comes from the Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS, hiring program.

Attorney General William P. Barr said the grant will help expand community policing efforts nationwide. “A law enforcement agency’s most valuable assets are the men and women who put their lives on the line every day in the name of protecting and serving their communities,” he said in a statement.

The funding comes as Wichita faces a budget shortfall because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. City staff have estimated a nearly $10 million budget deficit.

The Justice Department money is intended to hire new officers or rehire officers that were laid off because of budget cuts. The grant provides up to $125,000 to cover 75% of the entry-level salaries and benefits for each officer over three years.

The program requires a department to explain how the funding will be used to implement community policing practices to address a specific crime problem or focus area. Departments that highlight problems with violent crime are given special consideration.

The additional money to hire more officers comes as law enforcement officers nationwide respond to protests that have sometimes turned violent after the death of George Floyd, who is black, while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The grant does not appear to have any connection to the protests and riots; the application deadline was more than two months ago.