Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 17, 1995 TAG: 9502170030
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Glen Lyn, population 170 in 1993, has only one officer - Blake Walkup, who left the Giles County Sheriff's Office a year ago to take the job.
``That means that he's on call almost 24 hours a day, seven days a week,'' Mayor Howard Spencer said.
Glen Lyn's police force was one of 90 Virginia law enforcement agencies that last week received word they had been awarded extra officers. The federal program, administered by the Justice Department, is called Community Orientated Policing Service - Funding Accelerated for Smaller Towns, or COPS FAST.
Nationally, 6,660 localities will receive $434 million for more than 7,000 officers as part of President Clinton's pledge to put 100,000 additional police officers on the street. Of the 92 new officers approved for Virginia, eight will be patrolling the New River Valley.
The grant program targeted smaller departments serving populations of less than 50,000, and simplified usually cumbersome federal grant applications into a brief, one-page outline of the departments and their needs.
That made it easier for smaller departments such as Glen Lyn, Pembroke and Rich Creek in Giles County to apply for a grant - and get it.
``The forms were relatively simple. ... That was a big plus for us,'' Spencer said.
The House of Representatives voted this week for a Republican plan to give localities the option of community grants instead of new police officers. But that doesn't affect these new officers.
The money for the new officers is part of the crime bill signed into law last fall, and is not in jeopardy because of the House vote, said Peggy Wilhide, press secretary for Sen. Charles Robb, D-Va.
However, should the new House version of the crime bill stand - either by President Clinton's not vetoing it or Congress' overriding his veto - then future funding of the program may be affected, she said.
COPS FAST provides up to 75 percent of the salary and benefits for each officer for three years.
Glen Lyn had been exploring adding to its police force to relieve Walkup, and the grant makes that possible. But the Republican plan of providing the money as block grants has its appeal, Spencer said.
``We may better know how to use those funds or allocate them than the federal government,'' he said.
For example, Spencer said, one option would be to share an officer with neighboring Rich Creek. Glen Lyn may not need two full-time officers, but it could use 11/2, the mayor said.
``We're only two miles apart, you know,'' he said, but stressed that the idea was only an option and had not been discussed with Rich Creek.
Besides the three departments in Giles County, other New River Valley agencies that have been granted money for another officer are the towns of Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Pulaski and Wytheville, and the Wythe County Sheriff's Office.
Other Western Virginia recipients include the police department in Rural Retreat and sheriff's offices in Botetourt and Franklin counties. Of the 90 departments that received grants, only the Charlottesville and Fairfax police departments received two officers.
Blacksburg Chief Bill Brown had asked for two officers to be added to his 48 sworn officers.
Brown said he was told more than 7,000 applications requesting 18,000 officers were received, representing more than $1 billion in costs. With $434 million set aside for the program, not all requests could be approved, but the Justice Department said it hopes to fully fund requests in the future, Brown said.
Brown received a phone call notifying him of the award, but it's not official until written notification is received from the attorney general.
``No locality will receive any money until the day that officer is sworn in.'' Brown said.
At the Wytheville Police Department, which has 25 sworn officers, the extra officer would mean that an officer who is now able to spend only some of his time on community policing programs would be able to do that full-time while the new officer assumes full patrol duties.
Capt. Larry Groseclose said he, too, is awaiting final paperwork on the grant.
Wytheville Town Council has made the commitment to pay the 25 percent not covered by the COPS FAST grant.
``At the end of the three years, we'll have to assume that whole salary,'' Groseclose said.
Groseclose said some department chiefs have told him they aren't sure if they will accept the money because of the additional expenses involved. Besides eventually having to pay the officers' full salaries, departments will also have to buy equipment, such as cars and guns.
``That's going to be quite an expense'' for smaller departments, Groseclose said.
by CNB