Udall urges N.M. police departments to apply for recovery act funding

U.S. Senator Tom Udall, D-N.M., today announced that New Mexico police departments can apply for Department of Justice (DOJ) grants to help them hire new officers. The recently passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which Udall supported, provides $1 billion to help police departments across the country through the popular and successful Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program. Udall is encouraging New Mexico police departments to compete for the newly announced COPS grants to meet the state’s law enforcement needs.

“We cannot allow this economic crisis to prevent police departments from keeping New Mexicans safe,” said Udall. “I urge our local police departments to apply for this funding which can put New Mexicans to work in law enforcement and help protect our citizens.”

Police departments can get more information and apply for the grant funding by visiting www.cops.usdoj.com. Udall encourages departments to act quickly in order to ensure they have all required information and to avoid technical problems that may result in applications not receiving full consideration.

Grant solicitation opens March 16, 2009 and closes April 14, 2009.