Statham Police awarded federal grants

The department was recently notified that it is one of 11 Georgia law enforcement agencies slated to receive a United States Department of Justice COPS hiring grant.

Statham Police chief Steve Martin said the grant will allow the department to add a person to the overnight shift – the most dangerous shift for his officers.

The $139,000 grant will fund a position for three years. Martin hopes to secure an additional two years’ worth of funding allowing the department to have an additional officer for at least the next five years.

The Statham Police Department currently has six full-time officers and two part-time officers.

With a seventh officer on staff, the department will be able to expand its community policing and crime prevention initiatives.

“We’re excited about that because we’ve never had any organized community outreach,” Martin said. The hiring grant is just part of the good news Statham officers have received in the past few weeks.

The department was recently awarded almost $2,800 for the purchase of new bullet proof vests.

According to Martin, five of the eight officers with the department require new vests by the end of this year. The United States Department of Justice Bullet Proof Vest Partnership grant will help cover the cost of replacing those vests to help ensure the continued safety of those officers.