[ad_1]
The Pueblo City Council voted 6-0 Monday night to approve nearly $800,000 in funding to recruit and train law enforcement officers over the next two years.
The goal of the State Assistance Corps for Recruiting and Training (SMART) grant program, provided by the Colorado Office of Adult and Youth Assistance, is to provide grants to law enforcement agencies to increase the number of POST-certified and non-certified legal personnel. Under the grant, law enforcement representatives the communities they serve and provide training for these additional law enforcement officers.
“We are extremely grateful to have received this grant,” Pueblo Police Chief Chris Noller said in a news release. “We are developing specific plans to use these grant funds to help with recruitment and training. Across the country, especially Police recruitment is extremely competitive in Colorado. This grant will allow us to identify and recruit quality candidates to serve the citizens of Pueblo.”
The largest portion of the $791,811 provided by the grant will fund the creation of four intern positions, with $426,240 going toward the program and $106,560 per position.
“People in school want to know, ‘Do I want to be a police officer?’ This gives them the opportunity to intern with us,” said Sgt. Frank Ortega, Pueblo police spokesman. “This is a paid internship that gives them the opportunity to engage with us without committing to applying to us and completing the job. At the same time, if they like it and apply, we still have positions available to place people in intern positions.
Ortega said while the department will start with four internship positions, that number could expand in the future. He said the interns will perform a variety of duties including training, assisting police department officers and gaining an overall understanding of life in the police department.
Of the allocated grants, $231,000 will be used to train 21 officers through the Pueblo Police Academy, a program expected to fill gaps in the police department due to ongoing staffing issues. Ortega said the latest information he received showed the department was short 52 officers.
Ortega noted that while there hasn’t been a lot of attrition at the police academy itself, the department often loses officers during the field training process that takes place after the academy. However, Ortega said attrition rates vary.
“It depends largely on the people in our academy,” he said.
Other expenses covered by the grant include marketing and recruiting materials, travel expenses for recruiters in Colorado and other locations around the country, and other expenses related to recruiting (as detailed in Pueblo City Council meeting minutes from Feb. 26 out) .
In a news release, Mayor Heather Graham also praised the plan.
“This SMART grant provides the Pueblo Police Department with the support it needs to recruit more officers,” Graham said in the release. “We will continue to find innovative and proactive ways to increase training and recruiting, to address our officer shortage.”
Ortega noted that the grant only covers fiscal years 2024 and 2025 and will expire after that period.
“If there is, we will apply again,” he said.
Have a question, comment, or story tip? Please contact Justin at jreutterma@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formally Twitter, @jayreutter1. Support local journalism, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain atsubscribe.chieftain.com.
[ad_2]
Source link