COEUR d'ALENE - News that Coeur d'Alene will not be receiving a federal grant which would have allowed the hire of three additional police officers has city officials exploring other means of generating funds.

The city was pursuing a grant through the U.S. Department of Justice's Community Oriented Policing Services program. The COPS grant would have provided as much as 75 percent of the new officers' salaries and benefits for three years.

The grant process was extremely competitive, said Interim City Administrator Troy Tymesen.

"There were a lot of requests for those dollars," Tymesen said.

The grants were awarded on a needs basis, Tymesen said, making it likely that the funds went to the towns hit hardest by the Great Recession, where there were significant layoffs.

The COPS website shows that 1,296 law enforcement agencies requested funding for 3,469 officer positions. The total funds requested was $425 million.

The COPS program had $123 million to grant, which it allocated to 215 law enforcement agencies. Coeur d'Alene didn't make the cut.

Coeur d'Alene Police Chief Lee White told The Press in an email Wednesday that the lack of federal funding doesn't change the issue of the department needing more officers.

"Based on our crime rates, population, total offenses reported and calls for service per officer, it is clear that we are understaffed," White said. "We are working with the city administration to find a fiscally responsible way of ensuring adequate staffing for the department."

White will meet with Tymesen and other city officials next week to further discuss funding options. According to Tymesen, the news of the grant being denied came at an inopportune time, just three weeks after the city's budget was set.

"We have to move forward with how can we do this now that we just locked in the budget," Tymesen said.

Tymesen added that a potential source of funding could become available in January, when the Firefighters Retirement Fund lowers the premium the city will pay in order to participate.

"So I don't have new dollars, but I have a cost savings coming forward," Tymesen said.

The goal, according to Tymesen, is still to hire three new officers. But that could change depending on whether or not the needed revenue exists.