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U.S. Department of Justice U.S. Department of Justice Fact Sheet Community Oriented Policing Services Accelerated Hiring, Education and Deployment (COPS AHEAD) for Populations of 50,000 and Over Program information COPS AHEAD is one of several approaches developed by the Department of .lustice under the Violent .Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 to speed the deployment of new officers devoted to comrnunity polic- ing an the streets and rural routes of this nation. COPS AHEAD. permits- interested agencies to begin recruiting and hiring new officers now in.anticipatian of later COPS .grant funding, without compromising the quality and • thoroughness of officer training and the careful design of community.poiicing programs. COPS AHEAD will ben- efit jurisdictions with populations of.5.O,000 and over; while COPS: FAST will beused to expedite.the applica-. tions of agencies serving smaller populations. Funding Provisions. ❑ Law enforcement agencies intending to participate in COPS AHEAD may select and train new officers now, prior to submission and approval of a formal grant appli- cation. Funding will begin once the new officers have been swam and a satisfactorygrant application has been submitted and approved. Grants will be made for up to 75 percentof the total salary and benefits of each officer over three years, up to a maximum of:S75,000 per officer,. with the remainder to be paid by state. or local funds. ❑ Grant funds may be used to enable eachagency to hire new officers to increase its actual sworn force up toa maximum of 3 percent over actual October 1, 1994 force level. O Up. to S225 million in grants will be made under COPS AHEAD to state, local and other public law en- forcement agencieswhich serve populations of 50,000 and over. If requests exceed the funds available, the amount or starting date ofgrants may be adjusted to ac- commodate demand. ❑ COPS. grant funds must not be used to replace funds that eligible agencies otherwise would havedevoted to future officer hiring. In other words, aiiy hiring under the COPS AHEAD program must be in addition to, and not in lieu of, officers that otherwise would have been hired. ❑ In hiring new officers, agencies may not reduce the scope of their customary screening and training proce- dures, and must include community policing principles and methods in their training curricula. In addition, to the extent practicable, COPS AHEAD grant funds should he used to increase the representation of women and racial and ethnic minorities within the ranks of sworn officers. O All agencies serving a population of 50,000 and over will receive an invitation to participate in COPS AHEAD. In response, an interested agency must send a letter of intent to the iCOPS Office, to be receivedno later than November 10, 1994: The COPS Office expects'to con- firm the eligibility of applicants andproposed funding levels no. later than:November 2I, 1994. Officers pro- posed to be funded under COPS. AHEAD must be hired no later than the agency's first class starting in 1995. ❑ At the time that proposed funding levels are con- firmed, a formal grant application will be sent requesting information concerning the agency's strategic: community policing plan for the .use of the officers that havebeen approved to be hired, budget plans and: projections, and other information to enable the COPS Office to confirm compliance with grant conditions. ❑ An award under COPS AHEAD will notaffect the consideration of an agency's application for a grant under any. other COPS program. An agencythat received fund- ing under COPS Phase I is eligible to receive additional. funding under COPS AHEAD if the combined hiring un- der bothprograms does riot exceed 3 percent ofthe actual October 1, 1994 force level.. October i5,1994