U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Community Oriented Policing Services

 Fact Sheet www.cops.usdoj.gov

2020 COPS Hiring Program

Advancing Community Policing by Hiring Officers

The COPS Hiring Program (CHP) is designed to reduce crime and advance public safety through community policing by 

providing direct support to state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies nationwide. CHP funding supports the hiring 

of career law enforcement officers to increase an agency's community policing capacity and crime prevention efforts. The 

FY 2020 CHP award program was an open solicitation. All local, state, and tribal law enforcement agencies having primary 

law enforcement authority were eligible to apply. The award selection process was highly competitive and based on a variety 

of factors including problem focus area, local crime data, agencies' commitment to community policing, agencies' demonstrated financial need, and statutory formulas.

June 2020

The COPS Office received 1,091 CHP applications during

the open solicitation period from law enforcement agencies 

in nearly every state and U.S. territory. After careful review 

of all applications, the COPS Office made FY 2020 CHP 

awards to 605 state, local, and tribal law enforcement 

agencies totaling $399,469,632 to support the hiring of 

2,761 full-time law enforcement officers. These awards 

represent an important investment in our nation's safety 

and law enforcement communities.

Supporting Local Law Enforcement

Twenty-six years after the Violent Crime Control and Law 

Enforcement Act of 1994 was signed into law, the COPS 

Office continues to support the efforts of law enforcement 

agencies across the country as they develop creative and 

innovative ways to deal with long-standing community 

crime problems and public safety issues. To date, the COPS 

Office has invested more than $14 billion, including grants 

to more than 13,000 state, local, and tribal law enforcement 

agencies, to reduce crime by advancing community policing. In all, COPS Office funding has supported the hiring 

of more than 133,000 law enforcement officers in agencies 

large and small across the nation.

CHP is the COPS Office's flagship program with a long 

history of promoting police-community partnerships for 

the express purpose of crime reduction through effective 

community policing. Through CHP, the COPS Office is 

supporting our nation's front-line heroes by providing them 

with needed resources and expertise to enhance local community policing strategies and tactics.

Problem Focus Areas

All proposed plans and focus areas were eligible for funding; however, additional consideration was given to agencies 

selecting one of the following priority focus areas:

Violent crime - plans that focus on reducing

violent crime

School-based policing - plans that promote the

use of school resource officers

Homeland and border security - including protecting

critical infrastructures, information intelligence problems,

and other homeland security problems

Highlights of CHP FY 2020 Funding

The demand for CHP funding remains extremely high

among law enforcement agencies nationwide. The COPS

Office received 1,091 applications, 55 percent of

which received awards.

Sixty-nine percent of awardees received additional consideration by selecting one of the three priority focus areas.
2

2020 COPS Hiring Program

Additional consideration was given to applicants in 39

states and the District of Columbia with certain anti–

human trafficking laws that treat minors engaged in commercial sex as victims (referred to as "safe harbor" laws).

The most popular problem focus area for awardees was

violent crime.

Three hundred eighty-seven awardees intend to hire one

or more veterans with CHP funding.

Program Funding Provisions

CHP awards provide up to 75 percent of the approved

entry-level salaries and fringe benefits of full-time officers for

a 36-month award period, with a minimum 25 percent local

cash match requirement and a maximum federal share of

$125,000 per officer position.

Any additional costs for salaries and fringe benefits higher 

than entry level are the responsibility of the recipient agency. 

The COPS Office granted waivers of some or all of an 

appli-cant’s local cash match based on a demonstration of 

severe fiscal distress.

CHP award funds may not be used to supplant (replace)

local funds that agencies otherwise would have devoted to

sworn officer hiring. The hiring of officers under CHP must

be in addition to, and not in lieu of, officers who otherwise

would have been hired with state or local funds.

At the conclusion of 36 months of federal funding, recipients must retain all sworn officer positions awarded under

the CHP award for a minimum of 12 months. The retained

CHP-funded position(s) should be added to the recipient's

law enforcement budget with state or local funds, over and

above the number of locally funded positions that would

have existed in the absence of the award.

Resources

The following are select resources to support

state, local, and tribal law enforcement officers.

Lessons to Advance Community Policing 

Case studies of COPS Office microgrant projects, 

highlighting successful community policing 

strategies that may be used in other agencies 

across the country.

https://cops.usdoj.gov/RIC/ric.

php?page=detail&id=COPS-W0880.

Officer Safety and Wellness: Promoting Positive

Coping Strategies

Identifying ways in which officers may struggle

to manage the stress of the job in order to

develop programs and services that can provide

them with the skills, tools, and positive coping

strategies that will enable them to build their own

resilience and not merely survive but flourish.

https://cops.usdoj.gov/RIC/ric.

php?page=detail&id=COPS-P375.

Law Enforcement Best Practices:

Lessons from the Field

Examines key areas for community policing.

These areas include de-escalation; crisis intervention; first-line supervisors; early intervention

systems; internal affairs; recruitment, hiring,

promotion, and retention; and data systems.

https://cops.usdoj.gov/RIC/ric.

php?page=detail&id=COPS-W0875.

Discover Policing

This website offers first-hand descriptions of law 

enforcement work and provides opportunities for 

potential recruits and agencies to connect.

www.discoverpolicing.org.

Contact the COPS Office

For more information about COPS Office 

programs and resources, please call the COPS 

Office Response Center at 800-421-6770 or visit 

the COPS Office website at www.cops.usdoj.gov.

June 2020