Greenville City Council on Nov. 10 voted to accept a $1,000,000 award from the U.S. Department of Justice’s COPS Hiring Program to support the addition of eight sworn police officers.

Chief of Police Richard Bridal told the council the federal award requires a city match of $783,000 over three years, bringing the total investment to about $1,780,000. Bridal said the department is authorized for 195 sworn positions and the grant would move that authorization to 203; he said the officers-per-1,000-residents ratio would rise from roughly 2.2 to about 2.3 with the hires.

Bridal described the operational benefits as improved patrol coverage, better officer wellness and reduced overtime, and expanded capacity for community-policing initiatives. "This will provide us opportunity to strengthen our patrol coverage throughout the city," he said.

Council member Marion Blackburn asked whether the grant-funded positions are in addition to recent budgeted positions; staff responded that the city is phasing hires across multiple years and that after the COPS grant term the municipality assumes full cost of the positions. The city manager described the phased approach as a budget strategy to avoid a large one-year budget increase and to gradually fund positions as grants expire.

Council moved and approved acceptance of the grant by voice vote, recorded as passing 6-0.

Next steps: Police and finance staff will present implementation details and a phased hiring plan and budgeting schedule to council during follow-up budget sessions.