SBPD receives federal grant to hire more officers

Far from defunding the police, the City of San Bernardino will be adding up to eight officers thanks to a Federal Grant.

On November 18, 2021, the San Bernardino Police Department received notice of an award by the United States Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing (COPS) for $3,312,953 to hire an additional 8 police officers. This is the second year in a row the Department has received Federal funds to hire more officers. In July of 2020, the Department received $5,383,549 through the same program for an additional 13 officers.

The total funding of 21 additional positions has reflected the Justice Department’s embrace of San Bernardino PD’s improved supervisory ratios and revised organizational structure geared to support community-oriented policing and problem solving (COPPS) efforts. In 2019, the Department re-adopted the COPPS policing model by reorganizing into five policing districts each commanded by a police lieutenant.

As a result, the Department became increasingly more competitive for Federal grant funding. Community Oriented Policing programs are designed to enhance residents’ quality of life through better communication and partnerships. The Department’s current leadership team has found this strategy key to revitalizing public safety capacity and plans to continue building on these successes.

“The Downside of these programs is that it is temporary funding for long term hires so you need to be planning for that,” said Dr. Adrian Moore, Vice President of the Reason Foundation, a renowned public policy expert.  “The good thing about community oriented policing when done right increases communication and cooperation between the police and the community. Bad relationships with the community are the beginning of what become protests and riots.”