Grant May Provide 2 New Buena Park Officers

The Police Department has won tentative permission to apply for a federal grant that would pay the salaries of two new officers for three years.

Police Chief Richard M. Tefank told City Council members Monday that he would use the extra officers to begin a community policing effort targeting selected areas of the city.

“It will cause us to have a greater degree of visibility in problem neighborhoods,” Tefank said at a study session Monday.

A sergeant, two regular officers and two officers from the gang task force will make up the community policing team, he said. Under the program, the police will work with code enforcement officials to attack deteriorating habitats that breed crime.

The federal grant would pay $75,000 for each officer over the course of the three years, Tefank said. The city can meet the grant’s matching requirements by using money from Proposition 172, which imposed a half-cent sales tax for public safety programs, he added.

Tefank outlined a financial plan that slowly “weans” the city off the federal funds, with the grant money paying 45% of the program the first year, 35% the second and 20% in the third. The cost of hiring the extra officers would be about $486,000, with the city paying about $200,000 of that.

Tefank, who has been working on the plan for about six months, interviewed the new recruits Tuesday morning. If they pass the department’s tests, they will enter the police academy Feb. 27.

New council members Patsy Marshall and Gerald N. Sigler said they are hesitant to commit to the long-running program, but Mayor Don R. Griffin said it would resolve a “tremendous need” in the city.

The council members are expected to give formal approval to the grant application at their meeting next Tuesday.