Despite funding cutbacks, Pittsburg's police force will be at full strength.

The city learned this week the police department will receive nearly $900,000 in federal grant money to help pay for two sworn officers and two years of department training.

It's hoped the grants will contribute to a continued decline in the East Contra Costa city's crime rate, Lt. Brian Addington said.

According to recent crime statistics, overall crime in Pittsburg declined 8.1 percent for the first six months of 2009 compared with 2008.

Violent crime was down 20.1 percent, while property crime fell 7.2 percent. Juvenile arrests were also down 23.4 percent, while robberies and aggravated assaults also fell. Arrests and calls for services were also down, Addington said.

However, Pittsburg has had more homicides — four, so far — this year than all of 2008. Burglaries have also shown an uptick.

"Ultimately, the plan is to use this funding to have the resources so that, even in these tough economic times, we can continue that downward trend," Addington said.

Pittsburg will receive $758,096 from the Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS hiring recovery program, which will be used to pay for the officers' salaries and benefits for the next three years.

Pittsburg will pay for the fourth year. The grant will help fill two frozen staff positions — bringing the department back to full-strength at 76 sworn

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officers.

 

"The crucial thing is to make sure we have as many officers as we can on the streets and in the community," City Manager Marc Grisham said.

For Pittsburg's "total policing" to be effective, there has to be police and staff presence in the community, he said.

Pittsburg also received a Justice Assistance Grant for $113,474 for training costs. Cuts to Pittsburg's general fund budget included police training costs, which the city hoped to fill with grant money, Grisham said.

A large chunk of that money will go toward training officers to speak Spanish. Spanish-speaking officers are "definitely a huge need" given that Latinos are the largest ethnic group in the city, Addington said. About 10 percent of Pittsburg officers already speak Spanish, he said. The department has hired a company to put on a couple of weeklong Spanish immersion training programs for officers later this year.