CYPRESS : Police to Seek Grant to Add 4 Officers

The City Council has given Police Chief Daryl Wicker permission to apply for a federal grant that would add four patrol officers to the force.

Wicker said the grant, known as the Police Hiring Supplement Program, would pay 50% of the salaries of the four officers for three years. Cypress would have to foot the bill for the other 50%, but the city has a few months to determine whether that is feasible.

Wicker said the cost of the three-year program would total $812,000, meaning the city would pay about $135,000 each year.

Hiring four patrol officers “would be a benefit to this city,” the police chief said.

If the city faces budget problems, City Manager Darrell Essex said, Cypress can back out of the program.

“The whole idea is to put more police officers on the street,” Mayor Gail H. Kerry said.

“It really seems like an answer to our prayers--the best one that’s come up anyway,” Councilwoman Joyce C. Nicholson said.