The federal grant complements the Community Oriented Policing Services Universal Hiring program that the city used to hire new police officers. The Universal Hiring program provides federal money to pay 75 percent of an officer's three-year entry level salary and benefits.
Veterans generally have the discipline and commitment it takes to make good police officers.
So we need to encourage and support efforts made to hire these people. The Troops to COPS program is one such effort by the federal government. Murfreesboro Police Commissioner Bill Jones said his department values its police officers who have served in the military. And this additional funding ensures they get the training and equipment they need to perform their law enforcement duties. We've hired many police officers through COPS, which promotes working and partnering with the community.