Phila. crime, budget lead to a big stimulus boost

Philadelphia's crime rate and budget woes were major factors in its receiving $10.9 million in stimulus money to hire and keep 50 police officers over the next three years.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, joined at City Hall yesterday by Vice President Biden, announced that $1 billion in federal stimulus funds would be given to 1,046 communities nationally to help them weather the recession without having to cut the blue ranks on their streets. Just under 4,700 officers will be hired across the country.

Philadelphia was near the top of the list in funds received. New York, Houston, Seattle, and Pittsburgh were shut out.

But it really was nothing for Philadelphia to brag about.

The city's 169 homicides this year, as of yesterday, and its projected $1.5 billion budget deficit over the next five years undoubtedly were among top reasons for its allotment of funds, which Holder said were based largely on crime and fiscal conditions.

The level of community policing was also a factor, Holder said - something positive that also worked in Philadelphia's favor.

Mayor Nutter, in a news conference with Holder, Biden and the governors of four Mid-Atlantic states, said that 50 new officers would make "a real difference" in Philadelphia.

But he emphasized the progress the city has made to reduce crime.

The number of homicides dropped 15 percent last year, he said, and it is down at least a further 10 percent this year.

Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey, who followed Nutter to the podium in the ornate Mayor's Reception Room, focused on more disturbing numbers.

Since March of last year, he said, five officers have been killed in the city. And over the weekend, seven people were slain in city neighborhoods.

"We have a tremendous amount of work yet to do," Ramsey said.

The 50 new officers will represent an increase of less than 1 percent to a force of 6,606 officers. Like other communities that received grants, the city agreed to fund the new police positions for at least a year after the stimulus money runs out.

Philadelphia received more than half of the $20.2 million awarded to 19 Pennsylvania towns and cities under a program known as Community Oriented Policing Services.

The program, which Biden said had been allowed to dwindle in recent years, received a boost from the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the stimulus package enacted in February.

Elsewhere in the Philadelphia area, Chester was awarded $970,315 to hire five officers and retain them over three years. Coatesville will get $192,716 for a single officer. Norristown will get quite a bit more - $309,540 - but also for one officer. Figures were based on policing costs in the communities.

Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl told the Post-Gazette newspaper that the omission of his city was good news, in a way.

"Our economic indicators and trends are really positive," Ravenstahl said. "Our crime rate is low."

In New Jersey, 18 communities were awarded a total of $26.8 million for the employment of 123 officers.

Noticeably absent from the list was Camden, which has crime and budget problems at least on the order of Philadelphia's.

But Camden had agreed not to seek funding because its police department owes $565,000 for misuse of a past federal grant. The violations occurred in 1999.

Camden's is one of 26 law enforcement agencies nationally that agreed to forgo new federal money for hires. In return, the government will forgive their debts.

Elsewhere in South Jersey, Pennsauken was awarded $1,002,720 to hire four officers, and Paulsboro was given $206,900 for one officer.

"We've never seen this amount of money, especially since there's no match on our part," Police Chief John Coffey said from Pennsauken. His department hopes to send the new officers to the police academy starting in January, he said.

Pennsauken has 93 officers on its force. Township Administrator Bob Cummings had to think seriously about how many new officers to ask for, since Pennsauken will have to pick up the cost in the fourth year.

Cummings said a starting salary for an officer on the force runs about $41,800.

"Obviously, these grants are wonderful things, but they go away after a certain period of time," he said. "When they expire, you see departments having to let people go."

Biden and other Democratic elected officials at the news conference extolled the economic gains that will come to the 50 individuals who get the new police jobs.

"When we're done, this will be about more than just a safer community, but a better economy," he said.

Along with Gov. Rendell, Gov. Corzine, and others, Biden hailed the impact of the stimulus program generally.

He said the program was being unfairly blasted by critics who say it hasn't created enough jobs. He noted that only five months had elapsed since its passage and that, already, the stock market has rallied, distressed banks have righted themselves, and even housing construction has perked up.

He asked Americans to give the programs "18 months to two years" before making a final judgment.

The COPS Hiring Recovery Program funds were awarded to the following applicants in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.