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San Jose Offered Deal To Bring Back Cops

SAN JOSE (KCBS) - At a time when many police departments are laying off officers, San Jose may be able to keep more than a dozen cops on the force after the city qualified for a federal grant that preserves law enforcement jobs.

San Jose Police are scheduled to loose 65 officers by next June, as well as make some positions civilian jobs. But now, the city has received word that it is eligible for a $7.1 million grant to hire 16 police officers for three years. The grant is part of the federal COPS program aimed at creating or preserving law enforcement jobs.

KCBS Matt Bigler Reporting:

"San Jose has received COPS grants in the past and they have worked out wonderfully," said Councilman Pete Constant, a former cop himself.

Constant says the grant does come with some strings attached: the city would have to guarantee funding for the officers for a fourth at a cost of $3.2 million.

"We have to be ultra-conscious," said Constant. "We don't want to get into a situation where we have to hire people and then immediately lay them off."

The city has 90 days to decide whether to accept the grant.

San Jose is one of 379 law enforcement agencies nationwide that are eligible for a portion of the nearly $300 million in grant money coming from the justice department.

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