GRANT ALLOWS JACKSON TO HIRE ANOTHER POLICE OFFICER

JACKSON -- City officials will begin interviews "immediately" for a new police officer, thanks to federal grant funding under the COPS program, Mayor Paul Sander said.

The city received funding to pay 75 percent of the officer's salary over a three-year period, Sander said.

"We'll absorb that person at the city's full expense at the end of the three years," he said.

The program is funded under the federal crime bill as a way to help communities beef up their police departments and anti-crime efforts.

This is the second year the city has been approved for funding under the program, Sander said. One officer was hired through a COPS grant last year.

The grant program has been a valuable tool to help communities, he said.

"We'd be foolish to turn it down," Sander said.