Feds Gives $1 Million to Mich. Town to Hire 8 Police Officers

The Associated Press

BENTON HARBOR, Mich. (AP) - The federal government has granted $1 million to hire an additional eight police officers in the city, which saw two nights of rioting last year, according to the office of U.S. Rep. Fred Upton.

Police Chief Sam Harris said the money will "give our department the boost that it needs, putting more officers on the streets to keep this community safe."

Harris said his department was understaffed when the riots broke out in June 2003 in Benton Harbor, a city of 11,000 residents about 32 miles north-northwest of South Bend, Ind.

The grant, announced Wednesday, is from the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.

"Benton Harbor will be safer with more cops on the street," Upton, a Republican from St. Joseph, said in a news release issued by his office.

The grant will fund the eight officers for the next three years.