American Falls gets stimulus money to hire new police officer

Tools

Story Published: Jul 28, 2009 at 5:07 PM MDT

Story Updated: Jul 28, 2009 at 6:12 PM MDT

By Wes Horrocks

Video
AMERICAN FALLS - The City of American Falls will soon be a little more safe thanks to stimulus money.

They just received a grant to hire a new police officer.

American Falls isn't a big city, but they see their share of crime. American Falls Police Chief Brandon Wilkinson said, "Everybody trusts everybody."

Lately officers have dealt with an increase of property crimes-people breaking into cars and houses, or stealing from businesses.

The police department has a tough time keeping up because they've been one officer short since October. Wilkinson said, "Just the way the economy is, and the way our revenues are we haven't been able to replace that officer." That is until now.

In April, the department applied for a grant from the federal stimulus bill. Tuesday morning, they learned they'll be getting about $132,000 dollars to hire a new officer. Wilkinson said, "Not only to offer somebody else a job and put them to work, we're able to help the community out and keep them safe and protect them by having another police officer out on the streets."

The only catch to the new grant is that the government only pays for three years. On the fourth year the city is responsible to pay for the officer. "We thought this was a great opportunity," said Wilkinson.

About 7,200 agencies across the county applied for the money, and only 1,000 were selected. Wilkinson said, "To know that American Falls is receiving some of that stimulus money is exciting."

It's not clear exactly when the department will hire a new officer, but the city plans to act as quickly as possible.

Twelve other law enforcement agencies across Idaho were also approved to share nearly $5 million dollars to hire a total of 26 new officers.

American Falls is the only city in Southeastern Idaho to be getting money from this grant.

Current Weather

Icon
Current Temp 40.0 °F
Partly Cloudy
Video
More Weather

Upload directly from your mobile device.

Learn how

YouNews

This content requires the latest Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled. Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.

On Demand

Resources and info you need to prepare for the switch to DTV.

Stay Connected

Viewer Poll

This week Gov. Otter signed a bill requiring Idaho to sue the federal government if Congress passes health care reform. What's your response to this?

  • It's great to see Idaho taking the lead on this. Someone has to stand up to what's happening in Washington.
  • We can't afford to pay for education in Idaho, but we're going to spend tax dollars to sue the feds? Ridiculous.
  • Not sure.

Connect with KIDK