Mead Police Department receives COPS Grant

October 27, 2022--The Mead Police Department received a $250,000 grant from U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Police Services (COPS). The COPS Hiring Program (CHP) is a competitive grant program designed to provide funding directly to law enforcement agencies to hire additional career law enforcement officers to increase their community policing capacity and crime prevention efforts. The grant will be officially recognized at the November 14 Board of Trustees meeting.

“This national grant will allow the Mead Police Department to better meet the needs of our growing community”, explained Mayor Whitlow. “I applaud Chief Newbanks for his determination on securing this funding to help keep the people of Mead safe.”

CHP helps put more police officers on the streets, reduce crime, and help municipalities fill budget gaps. Since its creation, COPS has sponsored over 13,000 of the nation’s 16,000 jurisdictions with more than $14 billion in funding. The funding through the Hiring Program will assist Mead in stabilizing staffing so that the Department can send new officers to patrol and backfill vacancies.

With additional officers in the pipeline, Mead Police Department will have more resources to answer the increase in calls for service. “We are honored to receive this grant from the Department of Justice, which will allow us to hire more officers to ensure the wellbeing of our residents,” said Chief of Police Brent Newbanks. “Mead PD is committed to community policing strategies and this investment in our officers is essential to provide a high level of service.”                      

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