State police agencies get stimulus funding

CARSON CITY -- Larry Cooley, police chief of the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, was tickled Tuesday to learn his small agency will be getting one extra officer, thanks to a federal stimulus grant awarded by the Department of Justice.

"We applied for three positions, and we're very grateful to get one," Cooley said. "It's going to mean a lot to us. We're short-handed, and there's a lot of times we only have one person on duty."

The colony is one of four Nevada law enforcement agencies that will receive about $5 million combined to fund 18 officers under the grants announced Tuesday.

The largest amount, nearly $2.7 million, was awarded to the Reno Police Department to pay salary and benefits for 10 officers over three years.

"This will be terrific," said Reno Police Chief Michael Poehlman, whose agency received funding for all positions requested.

Over the past two years, he said, the department has been unable to fill 47 positions because of budget cuts.

In seeking the grant, Reno emphasized its community policing and crime prevention efforts, he said.

"What we're planning to do is focus on areas where we've been successful," he said.

One is a motel interdiction team, in which officers work with motel managers and owners to address problems occurring in their establishments.

He also plans to add foot patrol officers in the downtown area, he said.

Sparks applied for 20 positions and was thankful to receive $1.9 million to pay for six, Sparks Police Chief Steve Asher said.

His agency, in making its funding pitch, emphasized officer ratios to the population and calls for service handled by each officer.

"Fourteen years ago we had 1.37 officers per 1,000 population," Asher said.

Since then, the city's population has grown by 35,000 to about 90,000, while the ratio has dropped to 1.22 officers per 1,000.

The national average, he said, is 1.8 officers.

"For us to meet that we'd have to hire about 58 officers," said Asher, adding his department has 109 patrol officers, down from 116 a year ago.

Elsewhere in Nevada, the Nye County sheriff's office was awarded about $216,000 for one officer.

Under terms of the federal funding, each agency must pay for the positions on their own for a fourth year after the grant money expires.

Nevada's largest law enforcement agency, the Metropolitan Police Department in Las Vegas, did not apply for grant money.

Spokesman Jacinto Rivera said the department didn't apply for the money because officials did not think they could absorb the cost of the additional officers once the grant money expired.

The Washoe County sheriff's office did not receive funding, but it was not clear whether the agency had applied for money.

Las Vegas Review-Journal writer Lawrence Mower contributed to this report.