Three agencies in Grant and Adams counties were awarded a total of $625,000 of direct funding from the U.S. Department of Justice for the hiring of additional law enforcement officers, according to a Tuesday press release from the U.S. Attorney Office for the Eastern District of Washington.

The city of Soap Lake and Moses Lake Police Department each received $250,000 to cover two positions, while the Othello Police Department received $125,000 to cover a single position. The grants cover around half of the salaries and benefits provided to each officer for the first three years of employment. In order to receive the grant, officers hired must be retained four years. The grants were part of $400 million given to 596 law enforcement agencies across the nation through the DOJ’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) Hiring Program. Nationwide, these grants will allow for hiring 2,732 full-time law enforcement professionals, according to the press release. The COPS Office received nearly 1,100 applications for more than 4,000 law enforcement positions.

“The Department of Justice is committed to providing the police chiefs and sheriffs of our great nation with needed resources, tools and support,” said Attorney General William Barr in a statement. “The funding announced today will bolster their ranks and contribute to expanding community policing efforts nationwide.”

Funding through this program had been on hold since spring 2018 due to a nationwide injunction that was lifted earlier this year.

Applicants were required to identify a specific area of criminal or problematic concern and explain how the funding will be used to implement community policing approaches to that area. For Moses Lake, the focus area was on the street crimes unit, providing two additional positions to better enforce laws regarding “drugs, guns and gangs,” Chief Kevin Fuhr said in an interview.

Soap Lake and Othello will each hire a school resource officer. In Soap Lake, it will be the first such position and the second in Othello, said Soap Lake Police Department Chief Ryan Cox and OPD Chief Phil Schenck in interviews.

Soap Lake will use the remainder of its grant funds to retain an officer that the department was going to have to lay off due to budgetary constraints, Cox added.

Forty-three percent of the awards nationwide announced Tuesday focused on violent crime, while the remainder of the awards focused on a variety of issues including school-based policing to fund school resource officer positions, building trust and respect, and opioid education, prevention and intervention, according to a press release.

Emry Dinman can be reached via email at edinman@columbiabasinherald.com.