Jackson - The cities of Jackson and Sutter Creek have qualified for Federal COPS Hiring Recovery Program grant awards, as announced Tuesday by the United States Department of Justice. Out of the 7,272 agencies applying nationally, only 1,046 made the cut. “In our case, we applied in order to save one officer position from layoff,” said Jackson City Manager Mike Daly. Jackson and Sutter Creek will receive estimated awards of $299,874 and $238,884, respectively. The City of Oakland is the top recipient in California, with a total award of $19,747,117 to fund 41 officer positions. On July 28, Vice President Joe Biden announced that the Department of Justice awarded $1 billion in Recovery Act funding through its COPS Program to state, local and tribal law enforcement to create and preserve nearly 5,000 law enforcement positions. Jackson and Sutter Creek were two of 357 agencies in California to apply. Of those applicants, 109 were accepted. Applicants were chosen based on fiscal need, crime index and community policing policies. “Apparently, those numbers worked better for us, although we were in the lower percentile,” said Daly. All grantees must retain sworn officer positions awarded under the CHRP grant for a minimum of 12 months following the 36-month federal funding period. Jackson will use the award in part to fund 80 percent of one full-time officer position. Daly said they had only budgeted 20 percent of that officer’s salary. “We were crossing our fingers. That was one of the wild cards we had,” he said. The CHRP-funded position will be added to the city law enforcement budget with state and/or local funds. Story by Alex Lane. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.