LAKEPORT, Calif. – Congressman Mike Thompson (CA-5) announced a federal grant of $125,000 has been awarded to the Lakeport Police Department.

The grant was made available through the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS.

The COPS Hiring Program grant will be used to retain a law enforcement officer who will serve as a liaison to Lakeport’s business community and neighborhood groups to support Lakeport’s crime reduction efforts.

“By allowing the Lakeport Police Department to hire an additional officer, these federal funds will go a long way towards helping our law enforcement officers make our community safer,” said Thompson. “I am a proud supporter of the COPS Hiring Program and will continue working to make sure our cities and towns have the resources they need to keep our communities safe.”

In a joint statement, Lakeport Chief of Police Brad Rasmussen and Lakeport City Manager Margaret Silveira said they were excited to have been selected by the Department of Justice COPS program for this grant. 

“This offers us the opportunity to provide a business and neighborhood liaison to work closely with our business and neighborhood groups to address crime issues affecting the community.  We appreciate the support of the congressman’s office, as well as numerous community groups including the Chamber of Commerce, Main Street Association, Lakeport Economic Development Advisory Committee, Workforce Lake and the Lake County Probation Office for their support of this community policing officer,” Rasmussen and Silveira said.

The COPS Hiring Program offers grants to state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to hire new or rehire career law enforcement officers in an effort to increase their community policing capacity and crime prevention efforts.

Additional information about the 2016 COPS Hiring Program can be found on the COPS Web site at www.cops.usdoj.gov .