FY26 COPS Hiring Program
This program funds established state, local, territorial, and Tribal law enforcement agencies to hire or rehire sworn officers to expand community policing and crime prevention capacity.
RESTRICTED TO: STATE LOCAL GOV · TRIBAL ENTITIES
⚑ Funds personnel costs for sworn law enforcement hires/rehires rather than research. · Applicant must be an established and operational law enforcement agency with primary law enforcement authority. · State and local governmental entities must comply with 8 U.S.C. §1373. · No university direct eligibility unless the university itself is a qualifying law enforcement agency, which is unusual.
Unit fits — one characterization, each unit's own rules
| IPPRA | 15 none | university cannot apply directly (ineligible) |
| Physical Sciences & Engineering (demo) | 15 none | university cannot apply directly (ineligible) |
| Tom Love Innovation Hub | 5 none | no commercialization signal |
Description
The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) is the component of the U.S. Department of Justice responsible for advancing the practice of community policing and supporting the Administration’s priority of Making America Safe Again by the nation’s state, local, territorial and Tribal law enforcement agencies through information and grant resources.
The purpose of CHP is to fund law enforcement agencies to hire and/or rehire additional career sworn law enforcement officers/deputies in an effort to increase their community policing capacity and crime prevention efforts. Anticipated outcomes of CHP awards include engagement in planned community partnerships, implementation of projects to analyze and assess problems, implementation of changes to personnel and agency management in support of community policing, and increased capacity of agency to engage in community policing activities.
Eligibility
Eligible applicants are limited to established and operational local, state, territorial, and Tribal law enforcement agencies that have primary law enforcement authority. In addition, state and local governmental entities must comply with 8 U.S.C. §1373, which provides that state and local government entities may not prohibit, or in any way restrict, any government entity or official from sending to, receiving from, maintaining, or exchanging information regarding citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any individual with components of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security or any other federal, state or local government entity. This includes any prohibitions or restrictions imposed or established by a state or local government entity or official.
Apply
View on Grants.gov → CONTACT: Community Oriented Policing Services <askcopsRC@usdoj.gov>
Proposal brief SEE AN EXAMPLE →
A one-page internal memo: fit assessment, submission requirements, document scaffold, and next steps dated back from the deadline — tailored to your project idea if you add one.
Proposal shell · Federal (generic) conventions SEE A FEDERAL EXAMPLE →
Funder-faithful document skeletons — Federal (generic)'s document set with section headings, page limits, reviewer guidance, and writing prompts; add a project idea to get [DRAFT] starter bullets. Download as .md for Word or Overleaf.