WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) has recently expanded its services to include the new “Cops in Schools” program. The office recently granted $75 million to spend on hiring almost 700 new police officers to work in the nation’s schools.

Dave Buchanan, spokesperson for the COPS Office, said that this is an important extension of the community policing effort. “Aside from providing just general security and law enforcement, which communities say that they need, [the officers] also act as role models and mentors for students,” Buchanan told POLICE. “When they have an officer in their school who is their friend, who is participating in school activities with them and is showing them how people can resolve conflicts peacefully instead of using violence, it is really changing this generation’s attitude about law enforcement.”

Communities chosen to receive funding for the program must demonstrate need and a plan for how to use the program. The COPS Office plans to continue the program by awarding another $100 million to communities this year.

— Amy Schmidt, editorial assistant