Federal funding to help bolster Lynn police force

LYNN – The Lynn Police Department is in line for a portion of $1 billion in federal funding over the next three years that will help keep new Chief Kevin Coppinger’s patrol officers on the street.Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr. confirmed Tuesday that Lynn will receive $1.9 million in federal funds over the next three years to hire new officers and backfill vacant positions within the department.The funding, provided through the federal government’s Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) hiring recovery program, will not only help keep staffing numbers level as the economy fluctuates, but will allow the department to bulk up crime prevention efforts during the summer months.”This is good news, very good news,” Clancy said Tuesday. “This will provide 100 percent funding for newly hired officers and allow us to backfill positions to keep the full complement of police officers on the street.”Despite serious budget cuts in all city departments, Clancy has managed to avoid laying off police officers or firefighters in fiscal year 2010, but the crunch has cost schools full-time officers and forced the department to prioritize on crime prevention.”This money saves jobs. Luckily we have not laid off any police or fire personnel, but down the road, later as the fiscal year goes by and a lot of things change you don’t know what you are going to have,” said Clancy. “It is not just new hires, there are vacant positions within as well, for example when (former Chief John Suslak) retired and we appointed Kevin Coppinger, which created a vacancy down the food chain as people move up. This money will fund a position that we wouldn’t have been able to fill.”According to the federal government’s official grant allocation list, presented by Vice President Joseph Biden Tuesday, 13 Massachusetts communities will receive funding for 131 new positions over the next three years, 50 of which will go to the Boston Police.The $1.9 million coming to Lynn will fund nine positions in the department.The other 11 communities included in Tuesday’s announcement that will see cash for new officers are Brockton, Chelsea, Everett, Fall River, New Bedford, Holyoke, Worcester, Lawrence, Lowell, North Adams and Webster.Although funding has been tight, Clancy and the police department have quietly been bulking up patrols and gang task force activities throughout the summer in an attempt to prevent violent crimes in the city – a statistic that always rises as the temperature goes up.”We’ve been putting extra money into anti-gang activities all summer long,” Clancy said. “We have targeted money to keep our cruisers on the street and to beef up the anti-gang patrols, and so far, with the exception of a few incidents, it has been a fairly quiet summer.”Clancy reiterated the money was very good news for the city and thanked Sen. John Kerry and Congressman John Tierney for their support in securing the funds.”I heard from Congressman Tierney and Sen. Kerry called me today, I really want to thank them for their efforts,” he said. “Like I said, this saves jobs for us. We haven’t had layoffs yet. I think we have been able to do a good job so far.”