Cookeville PD To Take Part In Hiring, Training, And Recruitment Grant Opportunity

Cookeville Police Department moving forward with a grant opportunity for law enforcement hiring, training, and recruitment

Chief Randy Evans said the opportunity came through the state Department of Commerce and Insurance. He said it is designed to aid local law enforcement agencies in their efforts to build up their police force through hiring and retention bonuses.

“It is primarily aimed at hiring and retention bonuses for experienced officers and non-experienced officers,” Evans said. “For experienced officers it would, over a 36-month period, offer $10,000 as they meet certain milestones. And then for a non-experienced officer, it would offer $8,000.”

Evans said the contract begins on September 1st this year and ends on March 2028. He said Cookeville Police Department will receive $40,000 annually, for a total of $200,000 in grant dollars over the five-year period.

Evans said there is no match for the grant.

“You’ve got to be real careful with how you move forward as I just try to run through some scenarios of how $40,000 will work out through the whole five-year period,” Evans said. “Then you hire someone in year four and what do they get? So not everybody is going to get that full amount. Really the only way to get that full amount is for us to hire you in the next year or two.”