The City of Danville is preparing to hire some new police officers despite the denial of a federal grant that would help fund them. Mayor Scott Eisenhauer says the city received word Tuesday that its request for a Community Oriented Policing (COPS) grant has been turned down.
‘’We were hoping to fund five officers that we need just to get back to our normal operating numbers, and utilize grants in order to do that,’’ said the Mayor. ‘’Unfortunately that didn’t come through, so now we’re going to have to use our own operational dollars in order to bring the police force back up to where we have been traditionally – which is that 64 number.’’
But despite the loss of the grant, Mayor Eisenhauer says the city will proceed with hiring new officers.
‘’We may hire 3 right off the bat, and then come back with another 2, then come back with another 2 – just trying to get back to the numbers where we normally sit.’’
Mayor Eisenhauer notes the new eligibility list for probationary police officers is scheduled to be posted by the Danville Board of Fire and Police Commissioners on December 5th. But he says the city will not be able to hire all the officers it needs at once because of the limited slots available at the Police Training Institute. In addition the city has only so many field training officers who can work with the new hires when they return from their PTI classes.
Danville Public Safety Director Larry Thomason notes it takes about six months before a new officer completes all the necessary training.
