COPS-CHP-APPLICATION-2020 | COPS CHP APPLICATION 2020

Opportunity Information: Apply for COPS CHP APPLICATION 2020

The COPS-CHP-APPLICATION-2020 opportunity is a discretionary grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office), designed to help law enforcement agencies expand community policing and strengthen crime prevention by funding the hiring and rehiring of sworn, full-time career law enforcement officers. The basic goal is to increase an agency's on-the-ground capacity to carry out community policing strategies, whether that means adding new officers, restoring positions lost to budget cuts, or maintaining staffing levels in the face of planned layoffs.

Funding under the COPS Hiring Program (CHP) is structured as a cost-share. Over a three-year (36-month) grant period, the program covers up to 75 percent of the approved entry-level salary and fringe benefits for each funded officer position. The remaining share must be paid by the agency as a minimum 25 percent local cash match. Importantly, the federal contribution is capped at a maximum of $125,000 per officer position, and the grant calculations are tied specifically to the agency's current entry-level salary and fringe benefit rates for full-time sworn officers. If an agency pays a particular hire more than entry-level (for example, due to experience, step increases, or negotiated pay provisions), any amount above the entry-level rate used for the grant calculation is the responsibility of the agency, not the federal award.

For FY 2020, agencies are allowed to request the number of officer positions they believe they need to support their proposed community policing strategy. While the program aims to fund as many officer positions as possible for applicants that are selected, the final number awarded can be reduced based on overall funding availability and other programmatic considerations. In addition to the cost match requirement, there is also a retention requirement: for each officer position supported with CHP funding, the agency must retain that position for an additional 12 months after the grant-funded period ends, ensuring the staffing increase is not temporary.

CHP funding can be used in several hiring scenarios. Agencies may hire new officers, including filling existing vacancies that are no longer supported in the agency's budget. Agencies may also rehire officers who were already laid off from any jurisdiction due to state, local, or Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) budget reductions, as long as those rehired officers return to work on or after the official grant start date listed on the award document; agencies must keep documentation showing when the positions were originally eliminated and when the officers were rehired. In addition, agencies can apply to rehire officers who, at the time of application, are scheduled to be laid off on a specified future date due to budget reductions. In that case, the agency is required to continue paying for the positions with local funds up until the scheduled layoff date, and the application must clearly identify both the layoff dates and the number of positions affected.

The program also explicitly allows hiring or rehiring School Resource Officers (SROs), but with specific deployment expectations tied to community policing outcomes in schools. Funded SROs must spend at least 75 percent of their time in and around primary and/or secondary schools working on youth-related activities. Just as important, the funded time must represent an increase beyond what the agency was already devoting to schools prior to receiving the grant, meaning the grant should measurably raise the level of community policing activity occurring in and around schools rather than simply paying for existing staffing patterns.

Eligibility is broad but specific: local, state, and tribal law enforcement agencies with primary law enforcement authority may apply. "Primary law enforcement authority" is defined as serving as the first responder to calls for service for all types of criminal incidents within the jurisdiction. Applicants must also have an operational police department by the time the application closes, or they must receive policing services through a new or existing contract for law enforcement services. The opportunity is listed under CFDA 16.710 (Law, Justice and Legal Services), administered by the COPS Office, with an original application closing date of March 11, 2020, and it is offered as a grant (as opposed to a cooperative agreement or other funding instrument).

• The Community Oriented Policing Services in the law, justice and legal services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "COPS-CHP-APPLICATION-2020" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.710.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2020-01-09.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2020-03-11. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for COPS CHP APPLICATION 2020

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: