San Antonio will hire 50 new police officers next fiscal year if they receive funding help from the federal government.

City Council unanimously gave city staff the green light Thursday to apply for — and if successful, to accept — a $6.25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice that would pay for some of the salary and benefits for 50 patrol officers for three years.

The city would be on the hook for covering the remaining personal costs, estimated at $22.8 million. That includes keeping the officers on the force for at least a fourth year.

“We’re hoping that we will get the grant,” said Deputy City Manager María Villagómez. “Since 2015, we’ve gotten 54 officers through this COPS (Community Oriented Policing Services) grant.”

The San Antonio Police Department is seeking to hire 100 new patrol officers next fiscal year, which begins in October. The 50 officers potentially covered by this grant would go toward that total. City Council would then need to approve setting aside money in the new budget to cover the remaining 50 officers.

SAPD has almost 2,500 patrol officers on the force.

Villagómez said that the 50 officers would be assigned to the city’s violent crime prevention plan, in place since January, and its new “Good Neighbor Program,” set to launch in June in response to a deadly dog mauling in February. That program aims to address properties that have received high volumes of 911 and 311 calls.

The officers would also help the department achieve its desired 40/60 split between on-call and proactive police work, Villagómez said.

molly.smith@express-news.net