Cookeville Police Grant To Help Offset Costs Of Training

Cookeville Police will get an assist from the state to train personnel through a new five-year grant.

Police Lieutenant Anthony Leonard said the $40,000 annually will assist with officers who attend the Law Enforcement Training Academy.

“What that means is that each cadet that we send to the Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy, once they complete the academy and they graduate, then the city will receive $9,000 per graduate to offset some of those costs. So that’ll pay for things like tuition to the school. It’ll pay for daily working uniforms, things like that, physical fitness gear. And also there’s some incidental training expenses that can be offset as well.”

The grant runs through 2028 and includes no local match. It is based on the community’s economic standing.

“The specific agency’s ability to pay index, and that’s a national number that comes out based on a bunch of different things,” Leonard said. “But we fall into a tier three under the Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy.”

Leonard said they hope to use the grant money as another tool to further recruit more officers to Cookeville. The city earlier this summer agreed to a new budget that includes significant upgrades in police officer salaries.

“Yes, we have received the contract,” Leonard said. “It’s been signed by city manager and so we’re just waiting for the state to review it and sign it on their side.”