SAN ANTONIO – A federal grant will help the City of San Antonio pay for 50 new police officers next years.
The City of San Antonio received a $6.25 million grant Wednesday by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) through the Department of Justice just in time to make it into Thursday’s budget vote.
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The award, administered through the COPS Hiring Program (CHP), will be used to onboard the new officers, who are part of a group of 65 new officers included in the FY 2025 budget.
Over the three-year grant period, the city would also chip in $16.9 million. After that, the city will have to fully fund the positions out of its budget.
The new officers would help SAPD move closer to meeting a recommendation from last year that it add 360 patrol officers in a five-year period. The goal is to get officers to where they’re spending 40 percent of their time responding to calls and 60 percent doing “proactive policing.”
The city already got 100 patrol officers toward the five-year goal as part of a record increase of police officers the FY 2024 budget. Half those positions were also partially funded with a COPS grant.
A news release from Rep. Tony Gonzales office states San Antonio was the only city in Texas to be awarded the maximum amount of funding authorized by the program. San Antonio is also one of only seven cities nationwide to be funded at this level.
“Reducing crime in our communities starts with supporting law enforcement with the resources they need. I’ve been a proud supporter of the COPS grant program through my position on the House Appropriations Committee and am thrilled that San Antonio received the maximum grant amount this year to hire 50 additional police officers,” said Gonzales.
The total investment under this grant program now amounts to $12.5 million for San Antonio over the last two years.