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Blount County Sheriff's Office receives grant to hire 6 additional officers

The Blount County Sheriff’s Office received $746,117 to fund six officers and the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office received $250,000 to fund two officers.
<p>Blount County Sheriff's Office</p>

The Blount County Sheriff's Office has received a grant so they can hire six additional full-time law enforcement officers.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced $98,495,397 in grant funding through the Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services COPS Hiring Program on Monday.

According to a release from the DOJ, the Attorney General announced funding awards to 179 law enforcement agencies across the nation including two in East Tennessee.

The Blount County Sheriff’s Office received $746,117 to fund six officers and the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office received $250,000 to fund two officers.

“Cities and states that cooperate with federal law enforcement make all of us safer by helping remove dangerous criminals from our communities,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said. "I continue to encourage every jurisdiction in America to collaborate with federal law enforcement and help us make this country safer.”

The COPS Hiring Program or CHP provides grant funding directly to state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies to support hiring additional law enforcement officers for three years to address specific crime problems through community policing strategies, according to the release from the Department of Justice.

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