McConnell Announces Federal Grant for Stanton Police Department

Statement

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced today the Stanton Police Department received a $154,611 competitive federal grant from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) through the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Hiring Program (CHP).

With a goal to reduce crime and increase public safety through community policing, these federal resources can be used by the Stanton Police Department to hire an additional law enforcement officer. Senator McConnell contacted COPS Director Phil Keith to advocate on behalf of the Stanton Police Department's grant application. Across Kentucky, local law enforcement agencies received more than $3.8 million from COPS Hiring Program funding to hire 32 new officers and deputies.

"As the only congressional leader not from New York or California, I'm constantly working to keep Kentucky's priorities, including those in Stanton, at the center of the national discussion. I'm proud to work with strong local officials like Sergeant Morton to support our first responders and help keep local families safe," said Senator McConnell.

"The City of Stanton, along with the Police Department is truly excited for this opportunity on receiving this COPS Hiring Grant from the Department of Justice," said Sergeant Ian M. Morton, Stanton Police Department. "Being able to provide better, more efficient service to our citizens is what we strive to do and with these additional monies to hire a full time officer, we can do just that. Having recently lost a fellow law enforcement officer in February, this is even more important to utilize now than ever. We would like to thank the COPS Office along with DOJ for this opportunity. We would also like to thank Senator McConnell and Congressman Barr for all of their efforts in helping the City of Stanton in obtaining this grant."

Senator McConnell has a long history of working closely with federal, state and local medical authorities, treatment centers and law-enforcement offices to help protect Kentucky communities. In December 2019, Senator McConnell, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, secured important provisions that were signed into law (full list here) to help mobilize federal government resources to Kentucky which included $48 million for the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS).

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