Nevada’s U.S. Sens. Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto announced on Sept. 24 that nearly $1 million in federal funding has been allocated for three Nevada law enforcement agencies.
The awards include:
- $500,000 from the COPS Hiring Program for the Sparks Police Department to hire more officers.
- $353,063 from the Tribal Resources Grant Program for the Lovelock Paiute Tribe to hire officers and invest in equipment.
- $43,308 from the Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act Program for the city of Henderson’s mental health and wellness projects for law enforcement officers.
The funding was initiated in May when Congress passed federal, bipartisan legislation to address a shortage of law enforcement officers nationwide. The shortage is attributed largely to the stresses on law enforcement resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 killing of George Floyd.
A study by the Police Executive Research Forum reports that, nationally, police resignations increased by 40.4% in 2020. Retirements increased by 30%, and hirings decreased by 20.5%.
According to the study, the numbers of resignations and retirements dropped significantly in 2021, and the number of hirings increased. This left police departments approaching—but not meeting 2019—staffing levels.
According to a press release from the office of Sen. Rosen, the funding for the three Nevada departments will go to “hire more officers, purchase equipment, and improve officer mental health and wellness.”
Officer Jen Bader, public information officer for the Sparks Police Department, said the department plans to use the funding to hire 12 new officers.
“When we applied for this grant, what we pitched was: We want to have a misdemeanor follow-up team,” she said. “About 33% of our active misdemeanor cases right now are generated from either the front desk officers or online reports. The people who follow up on those reports are our patrol officers. … So, the misdemeanor follow-up team—the design of that is to essentially expedite the process of investigating those cases and acceler ating the prosecution of those.”