$250M police grant bill passes Senate
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan bill that would provide $250 million in grant funding for small police and law enforcement agencies — including 90 percent of those in Nevada — passed late Monday by unanimous consent in the Senate.
U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, sponsored the legislation to address the needs of smaller departments to hire and train personnel.
“This is actually for our small rural town law enforcement offices,” Cortez Masto told the Review-Journal. “They just don’t have the resources they need for staffing and training.”
Indeed. Sparks Police Dept. Deputy Chief Clinte Bellamy told a Reno conference this year that Nevada has 40 law enforcement agencies, but only five of those have 200 or more employees and officers.
Bellamy said the grant money would help the Sparks Police Department hire and retain officers.
Every county in Nevada, except Clark and Washoe, would be eligible for the competitive grants, as well as rural city departments including those in Mesquite, Boulder City, Elko, Ely and the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe Police Department.
“This provides them more opportunity to get the essential resources,” Cortez Masto said.
The bill calls for five years of grant funding, totaling $250 million, with federal assistance to small departments with the application process.
Companion bipartisan legislation has been filed in the House by U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J. It has 84 co-sponsors, including U.S. Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev. More than 27 Republican lawmakers have also signed on in support of the legislation.
The House is currently on its August recess.
Previous bipartisan bills sponsored by Cortez Masto for criminal justice, prosecutions and suicide prevention among law enforcement officers have been signed into law.
Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@reviewjournal.com. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter.