Bartholomew County left out of police funding by federal stimulus

By Chris Schilling, The Republic

cschilling@therepublic.com

   Nashville Police Department has received $118,635 in federal stimulus money to pay for one police officer, but Bartholomew County law enforcement agencies were shut out of the hiring program.

    Across Indiana, 21 police agencies received money to hire more police officers.

    Indianapolis received the largest amount with more than $11 million for 50 new officers.

    Bartholomew County Sheriff's Department and Columbus Police Department applied for COPS Hiring Recovery Program but received no money.

    The program made $1 billion available to fund about 5,000 officers across the country.

    The sheriff's department sought $1.1 million to pay for and provide benefits to five new deputies. CPD asked for up to six officers that added up to $1.2 million in pay and benefits.

    The local agencies faced huge competition for the money.

    The federal government received nearly 7,300 applications requesting over 39,000 officers and $8.3 billion.

    Bartholomew County Sheriff Mark Gorbett said he was disappointed the sheriff's department received no money because of the need for extra officers in the county.

    "I was hoping to get something. The need is there," Gorbett said. "It's a blow to us." 

    He said the sheriff's department has added one officer position in the past decade while the county's population has grown, especially in the Taylorsville area.

    Gorbett said he will have to go back to County Council and try to figure out a new funding situation to possibly add more deputies.

    He said he was told the local agencies have not been denied funding permanently.

    Their applications remain under a "pending" status in the COPS program, which means that the proposal is still under consideration, Gorbett said.