LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY)– The U.S. Department of Justice announced today that the Lafayette Police Department has been awarded $1,249,999 in grant funding through its Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Hiring Program.

The justice department announced $98,495,397 in grants to 179 law enforcement agencies throughout the country.

The COPS Hiring Program allows those agencies to hire 802 additional full-time law enforcement officers.

“Cities and states that cooperate with federal law enforcement make all of us safer by helping remove dangerous criminals from our communities,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions in a statement today. “Today, the Justice Department announced that 80 percent of this year’s COPS Hiring Program grantees have agreed to cooperate with federal immigration authorities in their detention facilities.”

CHP provides grant funding directly to state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to support hiring additional law enforcement officers for three years.

It aims to address specific crime problems through community policing strategies.