Leesburg Won't Get Police Grant

Town Says It Needs To Bolster Patrols

By Kafia A. Hosh

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

The Leesburg Police Department learned last week that it will not receive a federal grant to hire additional officers despite the department's stated need to boost patrols in response to a growing population and recent robberies of downtown businesses.

The department had applied to hire four police officers through the Community Oriented Policing Services Hiring Recovery Program. The program's grant consists of $1 billion in federal stimulus for state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to create or preserve 5,000 positions.

The grant criteria included the economic conditions and crime data of the area where a law enforcement agency is based. Leesburg scored 8.07 on a fiscal need index that ranges from zero to 50.

Leesburg did not meet the grant's full criteria because of its stable economy and low crime, Police Chief Joseph R. Price said.

"We don't have the unemployment or the foreclosures that many other parts of the country do," he said.

Still, Leesburg needs about 16 more police officers to have more time to patrol neighborhoods and address community concerns, Price said.

The department has about 100 members, or two police officers for every 1,000 residents, but says it needs about 261/27 officers for every 1,000 residents.

Price said Leesburg has the lowest ratio of officers to residents among other Northern Virginia jurisdictions similar in size and demographics. The jurisdictions include the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church and the towns of Herndon and Vienna.

"Leesburg does a good job in keeping this community safe," Price said, but "as different types of crimes occur or more demands are placed on the police department, then the chance of our ability to keep that level of index crime diminishes."

Although the Leesburg police were not awarded the federal grant this year, the department is slated to hire four more police officers.

Last month, Town Manager John A. Wells authorized the department to hire two officers to be on duty by Nov. 1. The emergency hiring was prompted by the case of an elderly Leesburg couple who were held hostage by a robbery suspect last month. The emergency hires are in addition to two new officers already authorized in the town's fiscal 2010 budget.

The federal stimulus grant was competitive with nearly 7,300 applications that requested more than 39,000 police officers and $8.3 billion.

Leesburg's application is considered pending, which means that it will remain under consideration if the grant program receives additional funds this fiscal year.

Price said his department's application was "absolutely worth a shot. If you don't play the game, you can't complain about the rules."

Tagged: crime, Leesburg, Leesburg Police Department, Northern Virginia, police

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