In what has been a banner week for funding of local law enforcement in Tennessee, the Volunteer State’s governor pledged $54 million to assist law enforcement agencies in their recruiting efforts.
“To stay ahead of the nationwide spike in crime, Tennessee is taking every step to recruit, train and retain highly-qualified law enforcement officers to keep our communities safe,” said Gov. Bill Lee (R) in a Friday press release. “I commend police departments and sheriff’s offices for their continued partnership, and I’m confident these additional measures will strengthen public safety and relieve financial burdens for local law enforcement agencies.”
According to the release, $24 million will be spent to support basic training for new police officers.
“Every Tennessee local law enforcement agency is now eligible to receive funding to cover the local share of training costs for new officers, including paid Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy (TLETA) tuition, training uniforms and additional professional development expenses,” the release says. “This investment will provide 12-week officer training and save local law enforcement more than $3,000 per new officer. TLETA graduated the first class of officers through the program on September 30, including 110 officers from 61 agencies.”
Another $30 million will be spent on recruitment for new police officers.
It will allow local law enforcement agencies to dole out 3,000 recruitment bonuses.
Earlier this week, Lee announced a massive investment in violent crime prevention.
“As Americans face rising crime nationwide, TN is launching the $100 million Violent Crime Intervention Fund to equip local law enforcement with tools to keep every community safe,” Gov. Bill Lee (R) said on Twitter. “I invite all TN police departments & sheriff’s offices to apply today.”
As Americans face rising crime nationwide, TN is launching the $100 million Violent Crime Intervention Fund to equip local law enforcement with tools to keep every community safe.
I invite all TN police departments & sheriff’s offices to apply today. https://t.co/pdCBuGjVx5
— Gov. Bill Lee (@GovBillLee) October 11, 2022
“Unprecedented times call for unprecedented support. Every Tennessean deserves to feel safe in their community, & through this fund, local law enforcement agencies across TN can access the Proven Crime Prevention resources needed to deliver that quality of life,” Lee said.
Part of those funds will be used to hire and train specialized violent crime units across the state, along with technological upgrades to help law enforcement agencies track down suspects of violent crimes.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Background Photo “Police Officers” by Bill Lee.
This country is already a police state. More cops isn’t the answer.
Drive in or around any city in Tennessee and you’ll see city cops, county cops and state cops (Highway Patrol revenuers). Get rid of the useless Tennessee Highway Patrol and spend this money training more detectives to solve serious crime.
In areas where crime is low, cops have little to do and spend their time being revenue agents issuing tickets for minor stuff. Many of these tickets are for victimless “crimes” but they fund the treasuries of cities that shouldn’t even exist. Putting more of these police state revenuers on the roads to issue more revenue tickets isn’t going to improve trust in police or improve safety.
Thank you Gov. Lee . Our LEOs deserve the proper equipment and technology to fight the rising crime in the state. I believe our police, sheriff’s offices and the THP are doing all they can to arrest criminals and bring them to justice. It’s a different story once they get to the Justice system. Woke lenient judges and the District Attorney are allowing violent criminals (juveniles, convicted felons and illegal aliens ) to drive and prey on Davidson county citizens daily. Our Mayor Cooper and the woke metro council ( Freddie O”Connell ) authorized pouring 500 thousand taxpayers dollars for more studies on why people are homeless and useless programs to prevent it .Where did they get the 500 thousand dollars? They took 90 thousand from the metro police budget in addition to several other metro agencies(parks, public works, etc ) . We already have laws in Tennessee prohibiting camping on state or public or private property, it’s called trespassing. If people continually break the law they should be jailed. Apparently state statues don’t apply to Davidson county because our feckless DA Glenn Funk is on the record saying, ” he will not jail anyone because they are poor “.Why is the mayor and council spending a half of million taxpayers dollars on the “homeless “but ignoring the hundreds of deaths that are occurring yearly caused by repeat violent criminals (drunk drivers , reckless drivers and violent criminals )/Crime is rising in Nashville because our mayor and metro council has failed to implement the latest technology in the fight against crime. Why hasn’t council approved the use of license plates readers in all metro police cars and CCTV cameras on utility poles? Why doesn’t Davidson county use speed cameras to control speeding and reckless drivers on it’s freeways, school zones and busy streets ? Very curious considering surrounding counties are using these devices These tools are invaluable in proactive crime reduction. These crime reducing tactics are and have been employed by thousands of cities across the USA and Europe for years and are available from the federal govt through LE grants. As crime rises in the “It city “, one has to wonder why our mayor and council will not authorize the use of these devices to control crime on it’s residents ? In my opinion, they ( Cooper, Funk , liberal judges, metro council ) should be recalled or impeached before Nashville turns into Memphis.
Again a huge sincere THANK YOU to Governor Lee and the state legislature for at least trying to stop the rapid crime from infecting Tennessee and it’s residents !
Beam me up Scottie !
Beam me up Scottie
Maybe the government should put a few proactive cameras in your yard and home. You sound as if you want 1984 to become a reality. God help us with all the proactive technology.
Little Billy Lee throwing money around as if he was in D.C. Who authorized him to spend all of this money? The legislature? What line in the budget covers this largess?
Sure wish he would cut our taxes instead. I could “recruit” more healthy groceries from the store.