City of Rochester
News Release
(July 28, 2009) -- Mayor Robert J. Duffy is pleased to announce Rochester has successfully secured more than $5.8 million in federal stimulus funds that will save 30 uniformed-officer positions in the Rochester Police Department.
“Reducing crime and saving lives in Rochester always has and always will be the No. 1 priority of my administration. These funds allow us to keep more cops on the streets and maintain the progress we have made,” Mayor Duffy said. “I want to thank Senator Charles Schumer and Congresswoman Louise Slaughter for their support in this critically important effort. And I commend President Barack Obama for his commitment to keeping America’s communities safe.”
Rochester has been awarded $5,831,000 from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to fund 30 officer positions over a three year period. The money will be used to avoid laying off 15 police officers and allow the Police Department to move forward with a new recruit class of 15 officers. The City 2009-10 budget that was approved in June eliminated these positions as part of closing a $35.1 million budget gap.
These funds will be administered by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing.
The U.S. Department of Justice received more than $8 billion in requests for these funds and awarded $1 billion to 1,046 law enforcement agencies in 50 states. Rochester received 100 percent of its funding request.
Since taking office in 2006, Mayor Duffy has expanded the Police Department from 663 uniformed positions to 777 positions. The federal funding comes at a time when Rochester is beginning to see the results of this investment. According to the most recent statistics, almost every major category of crime is down this year.
These reductions include a 26 percent drop in homicides, a 24 percent decline in rapes, a 25 percent drop in robbery, a 21 percent drop in burglary and a 29 percent drop in motor vehicle thefts.
“The RPD has made tremendous strides in public safety and the success can be attributed to the number of police officers that have been added by the Mayor,” said Rochester Police Chief David Moore. “My hat goes off to the Obama administration for ensuring that Rochester received its fair share in aide. The RPD applied for 30 police officers and the administrators granted our request, confirming that the RPD is on the right track with the strategies that are being implemented.”
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News Media, for more information contact: Officer LaRon Singletary at 428-7330