Pre-Award Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) 

for FY 2023 COPS Hiring Program (CHP) 

Q. What is the purpose of the COPS Hiring Program (CHP)? 

A. The goal of the COPS Hiring Program is to provide funding directly to law enforcement agencies to hire 

and/or rehire additional career law enforcement officers in an effort to increase their community 

policing capacity and crime prevention efforts. Anticipated outcomes of CHP awards include 

engagement in planned community partnerships, implementation of projects to analyze and assess 

problems, implementation of changes to personnel and agency management in support of community 

policing, and increased capacity of agencies to engage in community policing activities.

Q. Is CHP an open solicitation? 

A. Yes. All state, local, territorial, and tribal law enforcement agencies that have primary law enforcement 

authority are eligible to apply. An agency with primary law enforcement authority is defined as the first 

responder to calls for service for all types of criminal incidents within the jurisdiction served. 

This is a competitive, discretionary program.

Q. What is the program application process? 

A. Completing an application under CHP is a two-step process. Applications must be submitted 

electronically through Grants.gov and JustGrants. 

See the COPS Office How to Apply page for more information.

Q. What is the deadline for this solicitation? 

A. There are two key deadlines: The deadline to submit the initial application in Grants.gov is 4:59 p.m.

on Thursday, May 4, 2023. The deadline for complete application packages in JustGrants is 4:59 p.m. 

ET on Thursday, May 11, 2023. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grants.gov FAQs 

Q. I found the application on Grants.gov but the “Apply” button is not active. 

A. If the “Apply” button is greyed out, it means the person who logged in has not been given the rights to 

apply on behalf of the organization in Grants.gov. Contact your organization’s Grants.gov E-Biz POC. 

That person may need to assign you a role, add you to a workspace, or authorize you to create a 

workspace. 

Q. What is the Intergovernmental Review and how do I complete it? 

A. This solicitation is subject to Executive Order (EO) 12372, “Intergovernmental Review of Federal 

Programs.” Applicants must check the Office of Management and Budget’s website for the names and 

addresses of Single Points of Contact (SPOC) under Intergovernmental Review: 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/SPOC-4-13-20.pdf. 

• If the applicant’s state appears on the SPOC list, the applicant must contact the state SPOC to find 

out about and comply with the state’s process under EO 12372. In completing the SF-424, such an 

applicant is to make the appropriate selection in response to question 19 once the applicant has 

complied with its state EO 12372 process. 

• An applicant whose state does not appear on the SPOC list should answer question 19 by selecting 

the following response: “Program is subject to EO 12372 but has not been selected by the state for 

review.” 

Q. How do I complete the SF-LLL Lobbying Form? 

A. All applicants must complete and submit the Disclosure of Lobbying Activities (SF-LLL) form in 

Grants.gov. Applicants that do not expend any funds for lobbying activities should enter “N/A” in the 

required highlighted fields. Applicants that expend any funds for lobbying activities must provide the 

information requested in the SF-LLL. 

Allowable Costs under CHP 

Q. What may my agency request funding for under the CHP award program? 

A. FY 2023 CHP awards will cover up to 75 percent of the entry-level salary and fringe benefits for each 

approved position for a three-year period, based on the applicant’s current entry-level salary for fulltime officers. There is a minimum 25 percent local cash match (cost share) requirement unless a waiver 

is approved. The maximum federal share per officer position is $125,000 over the three-year period 

(not $125,000 per year) unless a local match waiver is approved. Any additional costs for higher than 

entry-level salaries and fringe benefits will be the responsibility of the recipient agency. 

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Funding under this program will support three years of officer or deputy salaries within a five-year 

period of performance to accommodate time needed for recruitment and hiring. Agencies must retain 

each CHP-funded position for 12 months following the three years of funding for that position. The 

additional officer positions should be added to your agency’s law enforcement budget with state 

and/or local funds over and above the number of locally funded officer positions that would have 

existed in the absence of the award. Absorbing CHP-funded positions through attrition (rather than 

adding the extra positions to your budget with additional funding) does not meet the retention 

requirement. 

Funding under this program may be used to do the following: 

• Hire new officers, which includes filling existing officer vacancies that are no longer funded in your 

agency’s budget. These positions must be in addition to your current budgeted (funded) level of 

sworn officer positions, and the officers must be hired on or after the official award start date on 

the notice of award. 

• Rehire officers laid off by any jurisdiction as a result of state, local, or Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) 

budget reductions. The rehired officers must be rehired on or after the official award start date on 

the notice of award. Documentation must be maintained showing the date(s) that the positions 

were laid off and rehired. 

• Rehire officers who are (at the time of application) currently scheduled to be laid off by your 

jurisdiction on a specific future date as a result of state, local, or Bureau of Indian Affairs budget 

reductions. Recipients will be required to continue funding the positions with local funding until 

the date(s) of the scheduled layoffs. The dates of the scheduled layoffs and the number of 

positions affected must be identified in the CHP application. The recipient may rehire the officers 

with CHP funding on or immediately after the date of the scheduled layoff. Unless required by a 

recipient jurisdiction, the agency is not required to formally complete the administrative steps 

associated with the layoff of the individual officers it is seeking to rehire so long as the agency can 

document that a final, approved budget decision was made to lay off those individual officers on 

the identified layoff date. Documentation must be maintained detailing the dates and reason(s) for 

the layoffs. Furthermore, agencies awarded will be required to maintain documentation that 

demonstrates that the scheduled layoffs are occurring for local economic reasons unrelated to the 

availability of CHP award funds; such documentation may include local council meeting minutes, 

memoranda, notices, or orders discussing the layoffs, budget documents ordering jurisdiction-wide 

budget reductions, and/or notices provided to the individual officers regarding the layoffs. 

Note: An applicant may request funding in one or more of the above-referenced hiring categories 

under CHP. If an application is approved for funding, the notice of award will specify the number of 

positions approved in each category. Once awarded, recipient agencies may not move funded positions 

between the hiring categories without receiving written prior approval from the COPS Office. 

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An applicant may not reduce its existing current fiscal year budget for sworn officers just to make use 

of the CHP award. Any budget cut must be unrelated to the receipt of CHP award funds to avoid a 

violation of the COPS Office statutory non-supplanting requirement. 

Q. May CHP funding be used to pay for officer overtime or eliminate officer furloughs? 

A. No. CHP funding may only be used to hire and rehire full-time law enforcement officers in order to 

increase law enforcement agencies’ community policing capacity. 

Q. May CHP funding be used to fill sworn officer positions that are vacant at the time we apply for CHP 

funding? 

A. No. Officers funded with CHP funds must be in addition to any officers funded in your agency’s local 

budget. However, CHP funding may be used to fill vacant sworn officer positions if the positions are 

unfunded in the law enforcement budget (i.e., if state, local, or BIA funding has not been budgeted to 

pay for the salary and benefits costs of the positions) because of a hiring freeze or budget reductions 

due to local fiscal distress. 

Q. How does the COPS Office define a “career law enforcement officer”? Does this include sworn jail or 

correctional officers? 

A. The COPS Office statute defines a “career law enforcement officer” as an officer hired on a permanent 

basis who is authorized by law or by a state or local public agency to engage in or oversee the 

prevention, detection, or investigation of violations of criminal laws. CHP only funds sworn officer or 

deputy positions who are first responders to calls for service. Sworn jail or correctional officers are not 

funded through this program. 

Hiring Military Veterans under CHP 

Q. How do you define a military veteran? 

A. Under the CHP solicitation, a military veteran is defined as a person who served in the active military, 

naval, or air service, and who was discharged or released therefrom under conditions other than 

dishonorable. 

Q. Are new-hire officer positions required to be military veterans under CHP? 

A. No. Under FY 2023 CHP, new-hire officer positions are not required to be military veterans. However, 

because the COPS Office supports the priority to hire military veterans whenever possible, applicants 

who commit to hiring or rehiring at least one military veteran under CHP will receive additional 

consideration for FY 2023 CHP funding. These military veterans may be in any of the three hiring 

categories described under “Funding Provisions,” not just new hires. 

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Hiring/Layoff Guidance 

Q. If my agency receives CHP funding to rehire officers who were laid off at the time of our application, 

do we need to maintain documentation in the CHP award file regarding the layoffs? 

A. Yes. Your agency should keep a record of the date(s) the officers were laid off and the date(s) the 

positions were rehired with CHP funding in your award file for future monitoring or audit purposes. 

Please note that CHP funding is based on your agency’s entry-level salary and benefits package and 

that any additional costs beyond entry-level for rehired officers are the responsibility of your agency. 

Q. If my agency is awarded CHP funding to rehire officers who were laid off, when may we rehire those 

officers? 

A. Your agency may rehire the officers on or after the official award start date. In addition, your agency 

should maintain documentation showing the date(s) that the positions were laid off and rehired. 

Q. If my agency receives CHP funding to rehire officers that are scheduled to be laid off on a specific 

date in the future, do we need to maintain documentations in the CHP award file regarding the 

layoffs? 

A. Yes. Your agency must keep documentation in your award file for future monitoring or audit purposes 

that shows 

• the dates of the scheduled layoff(s); 

• the number of officers scheduled to be laid off; 

• the number of officers rehired with CHP funds; 

• the date of the rehire(s); 

• the reason(s) for the scheduled layoff(s). 

Only layoffs that will occur for reasons unrelated to the receipt of CHP funds may be rehired with CHP 

funds. 

Q. What kind of documentation may be helpful to demonstrate that the layoff(s) is not related to the 

receipt of CHP funds? 

A. Any records showing that the layoff(s) occurred as a result of state, local, or BIA budget reductions. To 

show that the layoffs did not occur as a direct result of the availability of CHP funds, it is especially 

helpful to demonstrate that budget reductions occurred in the entire (or at least additional) municipal 

or tribal governmental departments, not just the law enforcement department—or, if budget 

reductions occurred only in the law enforcement agency’s budget, that they were across all categories 

and not just sworn officer positions. Such documents might include (but are not limited to) (a) council 

meeting minutes discussing the budget reductions and layoffs; (b) budget orders directing municipal 

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departments to reduce their operating budgets; (c) personnel directives given to the officers who are 

scheduled for layoff(s); (d) any other local documents explaining why the layoffs occurred; or (e) 

notices provided to the individual officers regarding the date(s) of the layoffs. 

Q. Our agency has applied for CHP funding to rehire officers who are scheduled to be laid off on a 

specific date in the future. Do we need to actually lay off officers before using COPS funds and then 

rehire them? 

A. Unless required by your jurisdiction, your agency is not required to formally complete the 

administrative steps associated with the layoff of the individual officers you are seeking to rehire. As 

long as your agency can document that a final, approved budget decision, unrelated to the receipt of 

CHP funding, was made to lay off those particular individual officers on the identified layoff date(s), it 

may transfer the officers to the CHP funding on or after the date of the layoff. However, it must 

continue to fund the officers with its own funds from the award start date until the date of the 

scheduled layoff (for example, if the COPS Office award start date is September 1 and the layoff is 

scheduled for November 1, then the COPS Office funds may not be used to fund the officers until 

November 1, the date of the scheduled layoff). 

Post-Application Layoffs 

Q. If our agency’s economic conditions change after receiving a CHP award and we want to change the 

hiring categories from what we identified in our CHP application because of post-application layoffs, 

what should our agency do? 

A. If your agency receives a CHP award and after receiving the award your agency needs to change the 

hiring category(s) it received funding under, your agency must request a post-award modification and 

must receive prior approval before spending CHP funding. To be considered for a post-application 

modification into the rehire post-application layoff category, an agency must demonstrate that the 

officers to be rehired were officially laid off post-application or are now officially scheduled for layoff 

on a specific future date as the result of financial reasons unrelated to the receipt of COPS Office 

funding. 

The COPS Office will only consider a modification request into the rehire category for postapplication layoffs after an agency has made final, approved budget or personnel decisions. To 

obtain information on modifying a CHP award, please contact the COPS Office Response Center at 

800-421-6770 or send questions via email to AskCopsRC@usdoj.gov. 

Q. How will the COPS Office monitor my agency’s use of CHP funds for rehiring laid-off officers? 

A. The COPS Office monitors recipient compliance with all award requirements in a variety of ways. For 

example, your agency may receive an onsite monitoring visit from the COPS Office during the award 

period or an onsite financial monitoring visit from the Office of Justice Programs, Office of the Chief 

Financial Officer, or it may be audited by the Office of the Inspector General’s Audit Division. Your 

agency also may be asked to submit written documentation demonstrating its compliance with the 

award conditions or in response to evaluations by outside organizations. 

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Q. How long must we keep copies of all of these records to demonstrate when and why we rehired laidoff officers? 

A. Your agency is required to maintain award records to demonstrate your proper use of award funds 

throughout the active award period and then for at least an additional three years after the submission 

date for the final expenditure report. 

Q. How do you define a School Resource Officer (SRO)? 

A. See the SRO Guiding Principles for the definition and roles of an SRO. 

Q. May I apply for both SRO positions and non-SRO positions? 

A. Yes. Applicants can request a combination of SRO and non-SRO positions. 

Q. Are there any other application requirements if my agency wants to request CHP funds to hire SROs? 

A. Recipients awarded CHP funding to hire and/or deploy SRO(s) into schools will be required to submit to 

the COPS Office a signed memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the law enforcement agency 

and the school partner(s) within 90 days of the start date of the award, and before expending or 

drawing down funds under the award. An MOU is not required at time of application; however, if the 

law enforcement agency already has an MOU in place that is applicable to the partnership, the MOU 

can be uploaded as an attachment under the Section in JustGrants titled “MOUs and Other Supporting 

Documents.” 

The MOU must contain the following: the purpose of the MOU; clearly defined roles and 

responsibilities of the school district and the law enforcement agency, with officers’ roles focusing on 

safety, information sharing, supervision responsibility, and chain of command for the SRO; and 

signatures. The MOU is an agreement among parties that defines the roles and responsibilities of the 

individuals and partners involved, including SROs, school administrators, law enforcement and 

education departments, students, and parents. The MOU should explicitly state the proposed 

programs and daily activities that the SRO will develop and/or administer. It should also address the 

policies and procedures and the extent to which information will be shared between the law 

enforcement agency and school or school district partners throughout the course of the award. The 

MOU should be signed by the law enforcement executive and designated representative for the school 

or school district who has general educational oversight within that jurisdiction. 

Please refer to the MOU fact sheet at https://cops.usdoj.gov/chp for a full description of the MOU 

requirements, and to the SRO Guiding Principles for more information. 

School Resource Officer Official Partner Contact Information (if applicable) 

Applicants requesting funding for SROs should enter in contact information for each school partner 

where the SROs will be deployed, if known at time of application. This information is not required at 

the time of application but will be required for any agency awarded CHP funding for officers to be 

deployed as SROs. 

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Please note: COPS Office–funded SRO(s) are also required to complete a 40-hour SRO basic training 

course from any of a list of COPS Officer approved providers. Training must be completed no later than 

nine months after the date shown on the award congratulatory letter or six months from the SRO hire 

date, whichever comes first. If a COPS Office–funded SRO leaves the recipient agency after completing 

the training, the recipient agrees to pay for the new SRO, who is assigned to backfill this position, to 

attend a 40-hour basic training course. The new SRO must complete the training no later than nine 

months after being placed in the school. If the officer has completed the 40-hour basic training within 

the last 12 months prior to the award date, the condition has been fulfilled. Any gap longer than 12 

months will require the officer(s) to retake the course. 

Budget and Associated Documentation 

Q. What is the budget submission process? 

A. Applicants will first enter the estimated federal and local budget request on the SF-424. The federal 

amount should not exceed $125,000 per requested officer, and the local share must be at least 25% of 

the total cost. 

Applicants must also complete the web-based budget worksheet form in JustGrants. No separate 

budget narrative is required. It is important to enter accurate information in the budget worksheet, as 

the information provided will be used to determine the amount of your CHP grant, if awarded. 

Budget Worksheets and Budget Narrative Form 

Budget requests may be made in the following categories: 

• Sworn Officer Personnel 

• Fringe Benefits 

In the JustGrants budget, enter the number of officers you are requesting, then provide the current 

entry-level salary and fringe benefits for one full-time sworn officer. The total request will calculate 

automatically. 

The local match will calculate automatically once the overall salary and fringe rates are entered. There 

is a minimum local match requirement of 25%. The local match requirement may exceed 25% if the 

entry-level salary and fringe costs total more than $167,000 over three years. 

Q. What are allowable costs / fundable requests? 

A. The only allowable costs under CHP are the approved full-time, entry-level salaries and fringe benefits 

of newly hired or rehired sworn career law enforcement officers who are hired or rehired on or after 

the award start date. A “career law enforcement officer” is a person hired on a permanent basis who is 

authorized by law or by a state, local, or tribal agency to engage in or oversee the prevention, 

detection, or investigation of violations of criminal laws (34 U.S.C. §10389(1)). The State of Alaska, and 

any Indian tribe or tribal organization in that state, may also use hiring funds for village public safety 

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officers, defined as “an individual employed as a village public safety officer under the program 

established by the State pursuant to Alaska Statute 18.65.670” (Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010, Pub. 

L. 111-211, title II, § 247 (a)(2)). 

Salaries: Funding requests must be based on the current entry-level salary and fringe benefits of a fulltime sworn officer. CHP awards are subject to the restrictions described in the Program Description, 

including but not limited to the $125,000 maximum over three years and minimum 25 percent match 

requirement (unless waived). Applicants budgeting for an increase in salaries and/or fringe benefits 

over the life of the award are required to provide an explanation. 

Note: Requests will be capped at 20 percent of actual sworn force, with a maximum of 50 officers for 

any agency. For example, agencies with an actual sworn force of 30 will be allowed to request up to 6 

positions. Agencies with fewer than 10 officers may request one position. 

Q. How are fringe benefits defined under the CHP program? 

A. Fringe benefits typically covered by the applicant agency, as specified in agency personnel and salary 

policies or contractual agreements, and allowable under 2 C.F.R. 200, will be allowed. Examples of 

allowable fringe benefits include Social Security, Medicare, insurance (life, health, dental, etc.), shift 

differential, retirement plans, and holiday pay. 

The following are considered unallowable costs under the CHP program: overtime costs, training, 

equipment (e.g., uniforms, weapons, or vehicles), severance pay, and hazard pay. If your agency pays 

those benefits for locally funded officer positions, your agency will be required to use local funds to do 

so for CHP-funded officer positions. 

For agencies that do not include fringe benefits (e.g., vacation, holiday, shift differential) as part of the 

base salary costs and typically calculate these separately, the allowable expenditures may be included 

with personnel costs. Any fringe benefits that are already included as part of the agency’s base salary 

should not be repeated in the separate fringe listing. 

Shift differential pay is a premium hourly rate paid for those hours that are not considered normal day 

work hours as defined by your agency. Typically, shift differential pay is for the hours worked outside 

of normal day work hours, where the majority of hours worked are from 3:00 p.m. of one day until 

8:00 a.m. of the following day. This would include the evening shift, midnight shift, overlap shift or 

power shift, or any other designated shift between those hours that would qualify for the shift 

differential pay as defined by your agency and/or a contractual or union agreement. Overtime beyond 

any defined shift work hours is an unallowable cost under 2023 CHP. 

Q. How do I determine the health care and fringe benefits costs for my agency? 

A. An agency should contact its human resources/benefits office to help determine their costs for 

healthcare and fringe benefits. 

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Q. May CHP award funds be used to pay the salaries and benefits of officer recruits while they are in 

the academy, prior to being sworn in? 

A. Yes, an agency may use CHP funding to pay the CHP-funded positions while in the academy if it is the 

standard practice of the agency to do so with locally funded recruits. To comply with the 

nonsupplanting requirement, the agency should hire the recruits post-award. 

Q. How should an agency calculate the first-year salary and benefits package of officers who will be 

recruits promoted to sworn officer positions, given that a recruit and sworn officer fall under 

different pay and benefit levels? 

A. The first-year salary and benefits package should cover the “blend” of both the recruitment academy 

and the post-graduation amounts, with the sworn officer salary and benefits amount used to cover the 

salary and benefits of the officer post-graduate. 

Q. Are indirect costs allowable under the CHP award? 

A. No, CHP funding may not be used for indirect costs. CHP only pays for approved entry-level salaries 

and fringe benefits of full-time sworn officers over three years. 

Unallowable Costs: Requests will NOT be Funded 

Q. What are unallowable costs under the COPS Hiring Program? 

A. All items other than entry-level personnel costs (salaries and fringe benefits) as described in the 

preceding section are considered unallowable under CHP. Therefore, requests for equipment, training, 

uniforms, vehicles, and indirect costs are not permitted under CHP. 

In addition, the following personnel costs are unallowable: 

• Salaries and fringe benefits of existing locally funded officers, unless those officers are currently 

scheduled to be laid off on a specific future date 

• Salaries and fringe benefits over and above an agency’s entry-level salary and fringe benefits for 

officers 

• Salaries and fringe benefits for civilian or nonsworn personnel 

• Salaries and fringe benefits for part-time officer positions 

• Salaries and fringe benefits for furloughed officers 

• Overtime costs 

• Severance pay 

• Hazard pay 

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This is not an exhaustive list, and items not listed above will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. The 

COPS Office reserves the right to deny funding for items that may not be included on this list. Agencies 

are expected to request items that show a direct link between the requested item and the applicant’s 

CHP project. All requests must contribute directly to the specific purpose of the award project and 

relate to the appropriations language enacted for FY 2022. 

Federal/Local Share of Costs 

Q. What are CHP federal and local shares of costs? 

A. The maximum federal amount of funding per officer is $125,000 over three years; any costs above that 

are covered by the applicant’s local match (unless waived). The local match requirement is a minimum 

of 25%, but in many cases it is higher. 

Local Match Progression Table. Recipients are also required to pay a progressively larger share of the 

cost of the award with local funds over the award period. The applicant will also be asked for a 

projection of the planned federal and local shares of the total project costs over the three years of 

funding for each position. While your agency may deviate from these specific projections during the 

award period, it must still ensure that the federal share decreases and the local share increases over 

the three years. 

Q. How do I calculate the local match? 

A. SF-424: Applicants enter an estimated federal and local share on the SF-424 application in Grants.gov. 

The maximum federal share is $125,000 per officer over three years; any costs above that are covered 

by the applicant’s local match. The local match must be at least 25% of the total project cost for all 

officers requested. The original estimates will carry over into JustGrants, and you may be asked to 

update those original estimates in the JustGrants “Standard Applicant Information” section once you 

have completed the web-based budget. You do not need to submit an updated SF-424 in Grants.gov. 

In JustGrants, applicants complete the budget by doing the following: 

1. Entering the number of officers requested 

2. Entering the entry-level salary and allowable fringe for one officer for each of the three years. 

The system will automatically calculate the total for the number of officers requested and the local 

match. 

Q. Why is the local match on the budget higher than 25%? 

A. The 25% local match is a minimum requirement. In some cases, the local match will be higher. This is 

because the federal share of costs cannot exceed $125,000 per officer over three years. Any other 

costs above $125,000 must be covered by an applicant’s local match. 

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Q. Can the local match requirement be waived? 

A. The COPS Office may waive some or all of an applicant’s local match requirement. During the 

application review process, your agency’s waiver request will be evaluated based on the availability of 

funding, a demonstration of severe fiscal distress as supported by the fiscal health data provided in the 

application, and comparison of your fiscal health data with that of the overall CHP applicant pool. If 

your agency wishes to be considered for a waiver, you must respond to the applicable question. The 

question will ask you to indicate the maximum local share (dollar amount) your agency would be able 

to contribute to the total project cost in order to implement the award. Please indicate whether the 

COPS Office should continue to consider your application if the waiver request is not granted or 

whether it should be removed from consideration if the waiver is not granted. If a full or partial waiver 

is granted, and your application is funded for a reduced number of officer positions, the percentage of 

local share provided will be applied to the total project cost of the awarded officers. 

Q. The officers we plan to rehire are experienced officers who are paid a higher than entry-level salary 

and benefits package. May we use the CHP funds to pay their salaries? 

A. Yes, but only up to the entry-level portion of their salary and benefits package and up to $125,000 per 

officer over three years. CHP funds are awarded based on your agency’s current entry-level sworn 

officer salary and benefits package. You may use CHP funding to hire or rehire experienced officers, but 

any additional costs higher than entry-level must be paid with local agency funds, not CHP funds. 

Q. CHP states it will provide “up to 75 percent of funding for approved entry-level salaries and fringe 

benefits of full-time officers.” How does this apply in cases where law enforcement agencies have 

various base pay rates based on the prior education level of the officer? 

A. In the limited cases of agencies that offer more than one entry-level salary and benefits package based 

on prior education for new officers with no prior law enforcement experience, you may average those 

salaries and benefits to report your entry-level salary and benefits. Please note, however, that any 

higher salaries and benefits that are paid to compensate for prior law enforcement experience are not 

considered entry-level and should not be included in this average or otherwise reported as entry-level. 

If awarded CHP funding, an agency must only use CHP funding to pay the actual entry-level officer’s 

salary and benefits, and any CHP funds remaining after the five-year period of performance will be 

deobligated. 

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Q. If awarded funding from the CHP program, will our agency be obligated to keep the total number of 

officers on staff at the time the award was granted, or are we only required to keep the award 

position at the end of the program? 

A. To comply with the nonsupplanting requirement of the CHP award, the recipient must maintain its 

locally funded sworn force baseline and any planned increases of officer positions during the award 

period through the retention period. To comply with the retention requirement of the CHP award, the 

recipient must add all awarded officer positions to its law enforcement budget with state and/or local 

funds for at least 12 months at the conclusion of 36 months of federal funding for each position over 

and above the locally funded sworn force baseline. The purpose of CHP is to increase the total number 

of sworn officer positions above what would have otherwise existed in the absence of the award. 

Nonsupplanting Requirement 

Q. Does the nonsupplanting requirement apply to the CHP program? 

A. Yes. The nonsupplanting requirement is a legal requirement in the Public Safety and Community 

Policing Act, which is the COPS Office’s authorizing statute. The nonsupplanting requirement means 

COPS Office award funds must be used to supplement (not replace) state, local, or Bureau of Indian 

Affairs (BIA) funds that would have been dedicated toward law enforcement if federal funding had not 

been awarded. As it applies to your agency’s CHP award, recipients must not reduce the level of state, 

local, or BIA funding that would have been dedicated toward sworn officer positions as a result of 

receiving federal funding. Requests may be made only for positions that are not otherwise budgeted 

with state, local, or BIA funds and that would not be funded in the absence of the CHP award. 

CHP Funding and Other COPS Office Awards 

Q. May our agency request funding under CHP if we have an active COPS Office hiring award for sworn 

officer positions? 

A. Yes. Agencies with an active COPS Office hiring award are not disqualified from applying for a CHP 

award, but the CHP-funded position(s) must be over and above the number of officer positions funded 

in the agency’s local budget and under any other COPS Office hiring award. 

Note: Recipients may not use COPS Office funding for the same item or service also funded by another 

U.S. Department of Justice award. 

Q. May CHP funding be used to retain officers hired under other COPS Office hiring programs? 

A. No. CHP funding may not be used to comply with the retention requirement of your other COPS Office 

hiring awards. Instead, your agency must use state, local, or tribal funding to retain the COPS Officefunded positions for the required retention period following the conclusion of the award period. In 

addition, the retained officer position(s) must be over and above your agency’s locally funded sworn 

force and any full-time sworn positions awarded under the CHP award. 

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Retention Requirement 

Q. What is the retention requirement? 

A. All applicants are required to affirm that their agency plans to retain all officer positions awarded, 

following three years of federally funded salary, for at least 12 months and to identify their planned 

source(s) of retention funding. The retention period may begin during the five-year period of 

performance of the award and may extend beyond the end date of the award. Agencies that do not 

plan to retain all officer positions under this award program at the time of application are ineligible to 

apply for CHP funding. The retention requirement cannot be satisfied through attrition. The retained 

CHP-funded officer positions should be added to your agency’s law enforcement budget with state 

and/or local funds for at least 12 months over and above the number of locally funded officer positions 

that would have existed in the absence of the award. At the conclusion of federal funding, agencies 

that fail to retain the additional officer positions awarded under the CHP award for a period of 12 

months may be ineligible to receive future COPS Office awards for a period of one to three years. 

Q. What documentation does my agency need to maintain in the event of an audit or monitoring site 

visit to demonstrate compliance with the retention requirement? 

A. Your agency should maintain documentation demonstrating its intent to retain the CHP-funded officer 

positions, the anticipated funding source(s), the employment dates for each officer position funded 

under the CHP award, and the date each officer position started the retention period. 

Other Questions 

Q. What is the formula for disbursing these CHP awards? 

A. CHP is not a “formula” program. All applications will be reviewed based on their answers to the fiscal 

health questions, crime statistics, community policing strategy, and other relevant factors determined 

by the COPS Office. Awards will be made on a competitive basis. 

Q. Are there priority focus areas in the FY23 COPS Hiring Program? 

A. Yes. Additional consideration will be given to applicants who select one of the following focus areas as 

the area of focus: Building Legitimacy and Trust, Violent Crime/Gun Violence, Combating Hate and 

Domestic Extremism, and Police-based Response to Persons in Crisis. 

Law enforcement agencies that submit applications addressing one of these focus areas in their 

proposals will receive priority consideration. 

Q. When should I expect notification if awarded CHP funds? 

A. The COPS office anticipates making CHP award announcements by September 30, 2023. 

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Q. Who do I contact if I need help? 

A. For technical assistance with submitting the full application in JustGrants, contact the JustGrants 

Service Desk at JustGrants.Support@usdoj.gov or 833-872-5175. The JustGrants Service Desk operates 

5:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Eastern time (ET) Monday to Friday, and 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, 

Sunday, and federal holidays. 

For programmatic and general assistance with the solicitation requirements, contact the COPS Office 

Customer Care Center at 800-421-6770 or by email at AskCOPSRC@usdoj.gov. The Customer Care 

Center’s hours of operation are Monday–Friday (except U.S. Federal Government holidays– 

https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/snow-dismissal-procedures/federal-holidays/) from 9:00 

a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET). The Customer Care Center will remain open on the solicitation 

closing date until 4:59 p.m. ET. 

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