Senator Reverend Warnock joined Brookhaven’s Mayor, Police Chief, and local elected officials announcing $750,000 in new federal funds he secured for the Brookhaven Police Department

The funding, which is part of the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program, allows the department to hire six new police officers

In June, Senator Warnock pushed the Biden Administration to consider Brookhaven’s application for the COPS program

Brookhaven Mayor John Ernst: “I’d like to thank Reverend Warnock for his work in bringing this funding to Brookhaven in partnership with our federal delegation. […] What it was, was a phone call — an easy phone call — that I was able to make to the Senator and the Senator’s staff to be able to get this funding. And again, I thank the Senator for funding the police”

The visit follows on Senator Warnock’s successful bipartisan work to invest in small police departments

Washington D.C. — Yesterday, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) joined Brookhaven’s Mayor, Police Chief, and other local elected officials in announcing $750,000 in new federal funds he secured for the Brookhaven Police Department. The funding is part of the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program and will help the Department hire six new officers to help keep Georgia families safe. In June, Senator Warnock pushed the Biden Administration to consider Brookhaven’s application for the COPS program. 

Senator Warnock is a champion of the COPS program, which provides funds to local police departments to hire additional officers for community policing and supports other initiatives related to community policing. The Senator requested strong funding for the program in Fiscal Year 2022 and 2023’s government funding package. Last year’s funding bill provided $512 million for this program, more than $126 million than last year—an increase of nearly 33%.

The visit builds on Senator Warnock’s successful bipartisan work to invest in small police departments with the passage of the Invest to Protect Act and reflects the Senator’ssteadfast support for Georgia’s law enforcement officers and agencies. In May, Senator Warnock cosponsored and passed a resolution in honor of National Police Week, honoring the law enforcement officers who were killed in the line of duty in 2021. Senator Warnock also helped to secure $3.9 billion in funding for local and state law enforcement and communities in the annual government funding bill, which is an increase of roughly $500 million above the previous year’s enacted spending.  

See below for Senator Reverend Warnock’s remarks, as prepared:

Thank you all for being here today. A special thank you to Mayor Ernst, City Manager Sigman, Police Chief Gurley and members of the Brookhaven Police Department for joining me here today.

I’m thrilled to announce $750,000 in new federal funding to the Brookhaven Police Department, which will allow the Department to hire six new police officers. 

I was eager to support of this funding opportunity and help move this application along.

Police officers are on the front lines keeping us safe, and it’s our responsibility to make sure they have the tools and resources they need. 

That is why I was proud to push for full funding for the COPS program so Georgia police departments in every corner of the state could get access to federal funding and hire more officers.

In last year’s government funding bill, I was able to secure over $500 million dollars for the COPS program, with nearly half of that going towards the hiring program that is allowing Brookhaven to hire these six officers.

We know that sometimes smaller police departments like Brookhaven Police Department have a harder time getting funding, that’s why I introduced the Invest to Protect Act, which has passed both the House and the Senate, which puts money towards supporting smaller police forces that often don’t have capacity to apply for complex and complicated federal grants.

I hope that when this legislation is sign into law, the Brookhaven Police Department, and smaller police departments all over the state will take advantage of this additional funding.

My office has worked closely with the Brookhaven police department. They know that if they call, I am ready to help.

Please know that I will continue to be an ally of Georgia law enforcement in the Senate.

And now, I’ll pass things over to Mayor Ernst.

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