REGION : 3 Cities Receive Grant to Add Police

Three Southeast cities have received federal grants to hire additional police officers, something the fiscally strapped cities have not been able to do in recent years.

The Bell, Maywood and Vernon police departments each received $75,000 last week from the Department of Justice, allowing each city to hire one more officer to its ranks. About 7,000 cities nationwide were awarded similar grants.

“We’ve been responding to many ‘brush fires,’ but a new officer is going to allow us to start putting out the fire,” said Bell Police Chief Michael J. Trevis, who had requested money for four police officers through the federal program Cops Fast. “This will allow us to get into the community more and deal with the problems.”

Funded through President Clinton’s 1994 crime bill, the Cops Fast grant will pay 75% of the cost of one new officer for three years. Each city pays the remaining 25% for the three years and 100% afterward. The three municipalities’ city councils approved the additional funding in December when grant applications were due.

The crime bill set aside $14 billion in law enforcement and prevention spending, most of which is aimed at putting 100,000 additional police officers on the nation’s streets. The Republican-led Congress is rewriting last year’s legislation, but Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Los Angeles), who helped secure the money for the three cities, said she was sure money for this program would not be affected.

Cops Fast, actually an acronym for Community Oriented Policing Services--Funding Accelerated for Smaller Towns, targeted cities with populations under 50,000.

Huntington Park, which has a population of 58,092, applied for two additional police officers under a separate program called Cops Ahead (Accelerated Hiring, Education and Deployment). Lt. Carl Heintz said the Police Department expects to hear word from the Justice Department in two months.

Maywood, with a population of about 28,000, will add to its 26-officer police force within the next few months, said a police department spokeswoman. Maywood has not hired a police officer in two years.

Bell’s Trevis expects to swear in a new officer in about 11 months, adding to the 19 patrol officers in the city. There are a total of 37 sworn officers in Bell, which has a population of 38,000.

Vernon has 52 sworn officers for its daily population of 45,000 to 50,000. Only 100 people reside in the mostly industrial city. With the grant money, the city’s Police Department intends to strengthen its ties with the business community.

“The officer will be a liaison to the chamber of commerce, a clearinghouse type of officer that meets with company owners. He will be a direct link from the business community to the police chief’s office,” said Sgt. James Wohlt, training manager at the Vernon Police Department.