Elk Grove Police Receives $2 million DOJ COPS Grant

If city accepts, it will put six more officers on the street

The City of Elk Grove and the Elk Grove Police Department found out today  their C.O.P.S. application was accepted by the U.S. Department of Justice (D.O.J.). Pending city council approval, Elk Grove will receive the $2 million grant that will fund six more police officers.

"The grant will still have to come to Council for approval, but it is a 3 year grant, beginning as a fifty-fifty match and transitioning to being fully city funded," Elk Grove City Council Member Gary Davis said. "This is the perfect way to put more cops on the street in this tough economic time."

The C.O.P.S. are designed to advance the practice of community policing state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies.The program dates to the Clinton administration.

Davis said the grant came as a result of hard work and diligence on the city's part that included lobbying the D.O.J. in Washington D.C. and California's congressional delegation. Davis noted  Elk Grove's Congressman Dan Lungren (R) has consistently opposed the program and did not support the city's efforts. 

Last spring Lungren voted against the the program which enjoyed strong bi-partisan support. At the time a Lungren staffer who wished not to be identified said in a published report that "he [Lungren] thought this entrenched the federal government on the local level."

Elk Grove Police Chief Robert Lehner noted the grant  is for three years and that the department expects to receive specific guidelines within a couple of weeks.  "We have 90 days from receipt of the formal notice to accept the award, decline it, or request an extension," Lehner said.