MADISON — The Madison Police Department will add a new patrol officer in the coming months as part of a federal program aimed at hiring recently discharged military veterans.
Police Chief Barry Moores said the U.S. Department of Justice awarded a $125,000 hiring program grant as part of the COPS grant program — Community Oriented Policing Service.
Moores said his office originally applied for the grant in 2010 after losing an officer to budget cuts. The award is one of only five in the state.
Military veterans with at least six months of active-duty service after Sept. 11, 2001 are eligible, Moores said.
The grant is for one police officer and will be stretched over three years, covering 75 percent of the cost of salary and benefits, with the town picking up the rest, Moores said. He said the annual cost of hiring an entry-level police officer, with benefits, still has to be determined.
The town will foot the entire bill for the fourth and final year of the grant contract.
Moores said the one officer in the department — who is part-time and qualified for the position — was notified that the job will be posted.
“Other than that, we’re going to put it out to the veterans,” he said. “It will be mandatory that he’d have to go to the (Maine Criminal Justice) Academy if he has no law enforcement experience. He would have to go to the academy within 12 months of the time we hire him.”
He said some of the grant money could be used to pay the cost of academy training.
The Madison Board of Selectmen accepted the grant earlier this week.
U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud, D-2nd District, said in a news release that the grant money will provide funding to help law enforcement hire or rehire career law enforcement officers to increase community crime prevention efforts. Job candidates can include officers previously or scheduled to be laid off because of local budget cuts, he said.
Moore said Madison has five full-time patrol officers, plus himself as the department administrator.
“I feel this is a good thing,” the chief said. “It gives us a lot more flexibility with our manpower, because we lost a position at a Town Meeting a couple of years ago.”
Moores said the new officer should start working by September or October.
Doug Harlow — 612-2367
dharlow@centralmaine.com
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