U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Community Oriented Policing Services

 Fact Sheet cops.usdoj.gov

2021 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 2021 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.

March 2022

The COPS Office received 590 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 2021 CHP 

awards to 184 state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies totaling $138, 941,723 to support the hiring of 1,062 

full-time officers and deputies. These awards represent an 

important investment in our nation's safety and law enforcement communities.

Supporting Local Law Enforcement

Twenty-seven 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 135,000 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:

	Building Legitimacy and Trust

	Violent Crime - particularly gun violence

	Police-Based Response to Persons in Crisis

	Combating Hate and Domestic Extremism

Highlights of CHP FY 2021 Funding

	The demand for CHP funding remains extremely high 

among law enforcement agencies nationwide. The COPS 

Office received 590 applications, 31 percent of 

which received awards.

	Approximately half the awardees will use the funding to 

focus on building legitimacy and trust, 40 will seek to 

address high rates of gun violence, 22 will focus on other 

areas of violent crime, and 20 will focus CHP resources 

on combating hate and domestic extremism or policebased response to persons in crisis.
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2021 COPS Hiring Program

Program Funding Provisions

CHP awards provide up to 75 percent of the approved 

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

36 months, with a minimum 25 percent local cash match 

requirement and a maximum federal share of $125,000 per 

officer position. Awards are five years long to allow time for 

recruitment and hiring before the 36 months of salary funding begins.

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 applicant’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 https://cops.usdoj.gov.

March 2022