HILLSBOROUGH: Police seek slice of stimulus pie

By Audrey Levine, Staff Writer
   The federal economic stimulus bill may help several township police efforts, if a grant request for more than $11,000 is accepted.
   Committeeman Anthony Ferrera announced Tuesday that the Hillsborough Township Police Department is on track to receive $11,077 through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which was signed into law by President Barack Obama on Feb. 17.
   According to Hillsborough Police Chief Paul Kaminsky, the act allocated $4 billion to law enforcement organizations nationally. From there, he said, Hillsborough was one of about five or six municipalities in the county chosen to receive funds.
   ”The township funding was determined through population, size and other factors,” he said.
   In order to actually get the money, Chief Kaminsky said, the department must submit an application at the end of March that outlines the programs it will be used for in town.
   ”We will submit the application to the Bureau of Justice,” he said. “We will get the about $11,000 if the bureau determines the programs meet the guidelines of the act.”
   For the most part, Chief Kaminsky said, the department is hoping to use the money for community policing and to supplement ongoing programs, including the bicycle officers and narcotics investigations. He said the money can be used to pay for additional officers and overtime to increase policing around Hillsborough.
   Aside from this grant, Chief Kaminsky said the department is always actively seeking grant money and has, in the past, received funds for the Over the Limit Under Arrest program, combating aggressive driving, increasing personnel through the Safe and Secure grant funds and other programs.
   ”We are always aggressively pursuing any grants to offset costs for taxpayers,” he said.