On behalf of the Attorney General of the United States, Merrick B. Garland, and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office), the City of La Marque & La Marque Police Department has been approved and awarded for the 2022 COPS Hiring Program in the amount of $750,000.
According to the COPS Office, the mission is advancing community policing nationwide. We prioritize this by supporting state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement agencies as they carry out their vital public safety missions. The project you will implement with these award funds contributes to the mission of the COPS Office, and the greater goal of reducing crime and building trust between law enforcement and their communities.
According to Chief Randall Aragon, “Out of 711 municipalities that applied for this grant only 181 (25%) were awarded this grant.), We asked for six (6) Officers and apparently our dire need for staffing, crime status, programs in place that proved we are committed to preventing and controlling crime and the fear of crime, and undoubtedly a superb grant submission package all proved meritorious in being awarded precisely what we requested”.
Chief Aragon added, “Working creatively our project will consist of forming two-three Officer teams that are trained and competent in both special response operations (i.e., directed patrols) to interdict crime and drug hot-spots (especially those producing violent crimes) and also community-oriented policing to develop a genuine proactive partnership between the police department and the community. Consequently, both teams will conduct directed patrol actions targeting crime and drug hot spots two days each week and two days each week each specific team member will be assigned to perform as a Community Policing Officer working an assigned target-specific neighborhood within our city.”
