Shreveport considers seeking $12.4M to hire police officers

Shreveport City Council members Monday heard the police chief’s plan to apply for a $12.4 million federal grant to hire 100 more officers.
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If the board approves the resolution, Mayor Cedric Glover officially can apply for money, congressionally approved as part of President Obama’s stimulus package.

Hiring all 100 officers would take about four years, or 25 per year, Police Chief Henry Whitehorn said. “I couldn’t train 100 officers a year.”

An additional 25 each year would help keep up with the Police Department’s attrition rate through retirements and resignations. A manpower study Whitehorn directed shows the force is short about 100 officers.

The board will be unable to vote on the measure until early next month. The deadline to apply is April 14, Whitehorn said.

Shreveport will have to pay some money. After the grant money runs out, the Police Department will have to keep the new officers on its rolls for at least a year. That will cost about $4.1 million. Pre-hiring costs and equipment will cost about $1.2 million yearly.

“This is one that we obviously are enthusiastic to move forward with,” Glover said.

“It gives us the chance to be able to get our staffing levels up and to be able to get to that magic number that the chief and his staff and plan has given us.”

Glover said he plans to share with the council today more efforts to secure federal stimulus money for the city.

Last week, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder encouraged mayors to seek their share of $1 billion in grants known as the Community Oriented Policing Services Hiring Recovering Program.

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