Providence Police Department awarded $2.5M hiring grant, $220K officer training grant

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — The Providence Police Department received a $2.5 million Community Oriented Policing hiring grant from the Department of Justice.

The city announced the award on Monday. It will be used to hire more officers in the capital city.

The award is further supplemented by a $220,000 Community Policing Development grant for toward de-escalation training.

“Building stronger community relations is at the core of our efforts to improve our local public safety,” said Mayor Brett Smiley.

“Our residents have repeatedly expressed wanting to feel safer in their neighborhoods and through this grant, we will be able to hire more officers that can be present and visible in our streets. I want to thank the COPS Office for recognizing Providence as a leader in excellent community relations and investing in our efforts to build an even stronger department,” he said.

The $2.5 million in funding will be used to hire 20 police officers.

Those officers will be in addition to the 40 that Smiley worked to include in his budget.