17 Cleveland officers have been brought back already with another five set to return next month. The 25 covered by the grant brings to 47 of the 123 laid off officers who have been called back.
CLEVELAND - The City of Cleveland will recall 25 police officers who lost their jobs due to the state-imposed layoffs, after receiving a $5.8 million COPS grant. The money covers the full salary and benefits packages of the recalled officers for three years.
"These returning officers are well-trained, experienced and can quickly resume their careers and service to the community," said Public Safety Director Martin Flask in a news release.
Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association President Steve Loomis welcomed the news. "We'll take as many back as we can get," he said. "We were hoping for 50 but we'll take the 25 and run with that for a while."
CPD is one of 238 law enforcement agencies in the country to receive part of $243 million in grants allocated to the COPS Hiring Program by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.
Ohio received $16 million with Cleveland getting more than a third of that.
"The COPS program has been one of the mainstays in the Justice Department's efforts to support local law enforcement," said Steven Dettelbach, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. "The Department of Justice is proud to support the Cleveland Division of Police in their efforts to protect our community."
For Cleveland the grant comes just a few months after 123 officers, including 40 graduating Police Academy cadets were laid off to close a budget gap created by a cut in state funding.
"Obviously it's a failed experiment," said Loomis of the layoffs. "The crime rates are going through the roof, the violence in the crimes is what's more incredible. We have police officers getting shot at, police cars getting shot at. That's something we didn't see as regularly as we're seeing right now."
17 Cleveland officers have been brought back already with another five set to return next month. The 25 covered by the grant brings to 47 of the 123 laid off officers who have been called back.
Seven other Ohio police departments received COPS funding to rehire officers laid off due to budget cuts.
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