[StBernard] 12 Louisiana agencies get money for extra cops

[Westley Annis]

Sure, why not.  What's a few billion more when your spending trillions that
you don't have.  The big kicker tho: What happens at the end of the 3 three
years when the money runs out???  This is like putting a bandaid on the 17th
Street canal when it broke.  God be with us.

Ben

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	12 Louisiana agencies get money for extra cops
	By MARY FOSTER
	Associated Press writer
	Published: Jul 28, 2009 - UPDATED: 5:35 p.m.
	
	NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A move by the Obama administration to provide
grants to
	help keep police officers on the beat during the economic downturn
will
	benefit 12 law enforcement agencies in Louisiana.
	
	Vice President Joe Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder said on
Tuesday
	the money from the Community Oriented Policing Services program,
called
	COPS, was sent to places with the highest crime rates and the
biggest
	budgetary problems.
	
	"I think it simply comes down to the situation we're in after
Hurricane
	Katrina," said St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Chief Deputy Jimmy
Pohlmann.
	"Pre-Katrina we had 400 people on the force, post-Katrina we're just
getting
	back up to 280. Some of that is simply funding. We don't have a lot
of
	businesses back yet and our sales tax is not what it was."
	
	St. Bernard received $1,892,352 to pay the salaries of 14 new
deputies.
	
	The program will provide 100 percent of the approved salary and
benefits for
	entry level officer positions over a three-year period. Police
departments
	receiving the grants will then be required to fund the positions.
	
	"We believe attrition will absorb the positions once the funding
ends," said
	New Orleans Police spokesman Bob Young. "In the meantime, it lets us
get 15
	more officers on the streets."
	
	New Orleans got $2,523,345 to pay for the new hires.
	
	Both St. Bernard and New Orleans are trying to rebuild their forces
	following Hurricane Katrina, which hit in 2005.
	
	The grants in Louisiana ranged from $68,876 to provide one
additional
	officer to the Tallulah Police Department to more than $3 million
for the
	Shreveport Police Department. In all, the grants will cover expenses
for 88
	new officers and $12.1 million in funding.
	
	The other grants were as follows:
	
	-Dillard University Department of Public Safety, $102,192 for one
officer.
	
	-Gretna Police Department, $692,872, for four officers.
	
	-Kenner Police Department, $1,263,336 for eight officers.
	
	-Leesville Police Department, $128,213 for one officer.
	
	-Monroe Police Department, $1,133,289 for nine officers.
	
	-St. Helena Parish Sheriff's Office, $235,056 for three officers.
	
	-St. Mary Parish Sheriff's Office, $629,512 for four officers.
	
	-Shreveport Police Department, $3,300,426 for 27 officers.
	
	-St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office, $1,892,352 for 14 officers.
	
	-Tangipahoa Police Department, $155,979 for one officer.
	
	On the Internet:
http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/chrp(underscore)report.pdf