San Antonio police officer Arieh DeLeon, center, checks the controller of a drone he is operating with fellow officers Christian Manck, left, and Willie Hooten from the San Antonio public safety headquarters building parking garage downtown May 31. The officers are part of SAPD’s growing RAVEN drone program.
San Antonio Express-News
Melissa Manno, Staff writer
San Antonio has been awarded $6.25 million from the U.S. Department of Justice to bolster its police department and hire 50 additional officers over the next three years.
The grant is administered through the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Hiring Program, according an announcement from U.S. Representatives Tony Gonzales and Henry Cuellar. The award program provides funding to law enforcement agencies to increase their policing capacity and crime prevention efforts.
San Antonio is one of just four cities to be awarded the maximum amount of funding authorized for the program, along with Houston, Detroit and Cincinnati.
“Public safety is a priority of the community and City Council,” City Manager Erik Walsh said in a statement. “We have a goal of adding 360 police officers over the next three to five years and this grant award will help us achieve that goal.”
The award is also expected to help improve call response times and boost efforts focused on education, prevention and intervention.
In September, San Antonio City Council adopted its 2024 budget that added 117 new police officer positions to the department. It is the largest-ever boost to San Antonio’s police force, with around half of the new hires being assigned to the city’s violent crime prevention plan, in place since January, and its newly established Good Neighbor Program, which launched this summer in response to a deadly dog mauling in February.
Police Chief William McManus said the federal grant will pay for half of the new officer positions, “allowing our officers more time to do proactive policing and build relationships with the community we serve.”
The city is on the hook for covering the remaining personnel costs, estimated at $22.8 million. City Council unanimously gave San Antonio staff the green light to apply for the program in May.
This is the fifth time San Antonio has been awarded the COPS grant. Previous awards include the addition of 50 patrol officers in 2010, four officers to the Mental Health Unit in 2016, 25 officers to address violent gun crime in 2018 and 25 officers to respond to domestic violence in 2020.
The 2023 award comes as the city grapples with a recent spike in officer-involved shootings, including a 13-day span in September where five separate cases across the city left six police officers injured.
Other Texas cities that received COPS funding to hire additional police officers include Castroville ($250,000), Pearsall ($187,500) and Marfa ($121,500).
SAPD currently has around 2,500 patrol officers on the force. Those interested in joining the San Antonio Police Department can apply at SAPDCareers.com.