September 11, 2008
WASHINGTON—With the start of a new school year, U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-08) was pleased to announce that schools in Pompton Lakes and South Orange will benefit from new federal grant funding awarded through the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program. The grants were awarded under the COPS Secure our Schools program for a total of $24,719.
“Secure schools are good schools,” sated Pascrell, a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security. “I commend the police in Pompton Lakes and South Orange for partnering with school officials to prioritize school security and foster a more fertile learning environment for our most promising resource-our children.”
Under the current round of funding, the Pompton Lakes Police Department will receive $13,219 and the South Orange Police Department will receive $11,500.
The grants will provide up to 50 percent of the total cost for municipalities to install metal detectors, locks, lighting, and other crime deterring resources. The grants can also be used to cover 50 percent of the cost of security assessments and training.
School security equipment secured through COPS grant funding has proven successful across the country since the program’s creation in 2002. In July of 2007, for example, camera equipment secured through a COPS grant was used to apprehend and arrest five suspects in an attempted arson case at Wayne Valley High School.
“The COPS grant program takes a unique bottom-up approach to securing our schools and neighborhoods. By directly investing in local law enforcement, the federal government has empowered municipal police to tailor federal funding around local needs. In addition to providing an extra layer of security, this federal funding will offset costs that would otherwise fall on local taxpayers,” Pascrell concluded.
A fierce advocate for strongly funding the COPS grant program, Pascrell recently joined an effort in the House of Representatives to restore funding for the program’s Universal Hiring component at a level of $100 million for the next fiscal year.
For additional information about COPS Secure Our Schools program, visit COPS website at www.cops.usdoj.gov.
