CRIME

Grant gives Wilmington 15 new officers to fight homicides

The U.S. Department of Justice awarded $2M in funds to the Wilmington Police Department and Laurel Police Department to aid in community policing

Brittany Horn
The News Journal
  • The federal grant supports the hiring of new officers to help communities combat crime.
  • The U.S. Dept. of Justice gave $119 million to 184 law enforcement agencies across the country Monday.
  • Wilmington will hire 15 new officers, while Laurel will hire a new school resource officer.

The Wilmington Police Department will soon grow by 15 new police officers thanks to federal grant money aimed at supporting law enforcement agencies with their biggest problems.

The city department and the Laurel Police Department received a total of $2 million from the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) COPS Hiring Program, an offshoot of the U.S. Department of Justice. The agency awarded $119 million to 184 law enforcement agencies across the country Monday to combat crime in their communities and increase policing jobs.

Wilmington's $1,875,000 in funding will support the hiring of 15 new officers to address city homicides, while Laurel's $125,000 will go toward the hiring of a new school resource officer. The grant funds 75 percent of the officers' salaries for the first three years, with the respective police department responsible for funding 25 percent of those salaries.

RELATED: Wilmington police disband Community Policing Unit

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In the fourth year, departments are required to fund 100 percent of the salaries and must keep on every officer.

This year, the COPS Office said it focused on applicants requesting money to address building trust in the community, as well as aid in school-based policing efforts, violent crime and homeland security.

In Wilmington, the new hires – who will elevate the department to 334 uniformed officers – will be used to help reduce and prevent homicides throughout the city. Sgt. Scott Reed, who helped pen the city's grant, said officials chose this designation due to the number of homicides the city sees each year.

Grant applicants were asked to identify a specific crime or problem area in their city and explain how additional funds would "initiate or enhance their capacity to implement community policing approaches to that problem area," according to the DOJ.

So far this year, 23 people have died in Wilmington homicides. Of those, 18 deaths have been a result of gunfire.

"We can use all the help we can get," Reed said.

How the officers will be deployed on the street and whether they will be used to form a new unit has not yet been determined, Reed said, adding that this particular decision will be up to the chief.

The story continues after the document. 

The Wilmington Police Department disbanded its community policing unit in early January with the mindset that all city officers would serve as community police officers. The department was required to note this in its application, as all federal dollars from this grant are required to aid in community policing efforts.

But the city likely won't see these new officers until November 2017, at the earliest. The department is currently six weeks into a police academy of 19 people and will need to clear that class before beginning the hiring process for another 15 officers.

This isn't the first time Wilmington has received money from the COPS Office, Reed said. In 2009, the department used federal funds to support the hiring of 16 officers. Since 1995, the office has invested more than $14 billion nationwide to advance community policing, as well as aid agencies nationwide in training and assistance.

In Laurel, the addition of another officer to a 15-person department is huge, especially when it means having an officer dedicated solely to connecting with kids, said Laurel Police Chief Dan Wright. The town's department hasn't had enough money in the budget to fund a full-time school resource officer and instead has relied upon officers stopping into schools periodically – sometimes, even on their own time – to put a more human face to the career of policing.

"I think it's imperative that there be a strong relationship between the community and the police department," the retired Delaware State Trooper said.

The school resource officer will primarily float between the middle school and high school, which share a campus, as well as continue to call upon other officers to reach Laurel youth.

Contact Brittany Horn at (302) 324-2771 or bhorn@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter at @brittanyhorn.