Pallone Announces Five New Brunswick Police Officers Rehired

February 1, 2011

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) announced that five police officers were recently re-hired and sworn in on Tuesday due to a federal COPS grant that was awarded to the New Brunswick Police Department. The grant will be spread over three years to fund the salaries and benefits of officers who recently lost their jobs in Franklin Township as a budget cutting measure.

“Today, with the re-hiring of these five police officers, we see how this grant is directly benefiting the New Brunswick community by providing jobs and keeping our streets safer through improved crime prevention,” said Pallone. “Under the COPS hiring program, our communities have experienced a significant drop in crime rates due in large part to the hiring component of the program which helped get more officers on the beat.”

The New Brunswick Police Department was awarded the grant, funded through the U.S. Department of Justice, in October for $1,588,664 for seven police officer salaries and benefits over three years. The remaining two police officer positions will be filled this year.

The number of police officers in New Jersey has been reduced by 11 percent in the past year. Since the COPS program began in 1994, funding has been secured to hire and retain nearly 5,000 police officers and sheriff’s deputies in New Jersey and 474 local and state law police agencies have benefited from the funding.