Officers to be added, courtesy of federal funds

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The area will soon have two more law officers after a federal grant came through.

The Dickinson Police and Stark County Sheriff’s departments found out Tuesday they were each approved for an officer which will be 100 percent paid for for three years.

The departments are two among 18 North Dakota departments getting the federal stimulus money. Twenty-nine officers will be hired or rehired across the state. The $5 million in grants are part of $1 billion being doled out to more than 1,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide.

The departments must pay for the fourth year, DPD Lt. Rod Banyai said. “They pay everything — benefits and everything — all we have to do is supply the uniforms.”

Banyai said the $1 billion was available nationwide through the United States Department of Justice. The sheriff’s department and police department each applied for two positions, but both were grateful to get one.

“This is going to help us with all the workloads in the sheriff’s office and hopefully we can get something going with (increased) courthouse security,” Sheriff Clarence Tuhy said.

Banyai said the position will help the police department keep each shift fully staffed, which has been difficult when officers are on vacations and at training.

“Just having extra personnel will also help the overtime that we’ve had to pay when we’ve needed the manpower,” Banyai said.

He said the money was to be used to keep departments from laying off officers, for hiring back officers who had been laid off, and for adding positions in departments which couldn’t pay for needed additions. Both departments fell under the last category.

Banyai said the grant package will arrive on Sept. 1, and the positions can be filled after that.

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