U.S. Department of Justice 
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services 

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www.cops.usdoj.gov

Fact Sheet 

Retention Requirements for COPS Funded Positions

Retention Basics 

All COPS hiring and redeployment grant 
programs have a retention requirement. 

COPS-funded positions must be retained for 
at least one full local budget cycle beyond 
the local budget year in which the federal 
funding concluded. The retained positions 
must be in addition to the number of locally 
funded positions that would otherwise have 
existed without federal funding. Consistent 
with the intent of the 1994 Crime Act, this 
requirement helps to ensure a long-term 
increase in the number of sworn officer 
and/or civilian positions serving the 
community. These additional positions must 
be retained using state, local, or other non-
federal funding. You may not use attrition 
to meet the retention requirement. 

COPS Programs Subject to the 
Retention Requirement 

The retention requirement applies to the 
following COPS grants: 

• Accelerated Hiring Education and 
  Deployment (AHEAD), 
• COPS in Community Prosecution Pilot 
  Program (CICP), 
• COPS in Schools (CIS) grants, 
• Distressed Neighborhoods, 
• Funding Accelerated for Smaller Towns 
  (FAST), 
• Making Officer Redeployment Effective 
  (MORE), 
• MCHS Initiative, 
• Mental Health and Community Safety 
  Initiative for American Indian / Alaska 
  Native Childen, Youth and Families, 
• Small Communities Grant Program
  (SCGP), 
• Tribal Hiring Renewal Grant Program, 
• Tribal Resources Grant Program (TRGP), 
  and 
• Universal Hiring Program and
  Supplements (UHP)

Retention Agreements 

When an agency applies for and accepts a 
COPS grant, it submits retention 
information on some or all of the following 
documents: grant application; budget 
summary sheets; signed grant award page; 
grant conditions (specifically including 
retention planning); annual reports; and the 
Retention Plan Certification form. Agencies 
must follow through with these plans and 
the grant conditions as agreed upon grant 
acceptance. 

Retention Planning 

Plans to retain COPS-funded positions must 
reflect a legitimate attempt by the law 
enforcement agency and its governing body 
(e.g., the city, county, town, or borough) to 
secure and provide resources to continue 
funding the additional officer and/or 
civilian position(s). An acceptable 
Retention Plan Certification must be 
submitted with the grant application. 

The COPS statute requires agencies to plan 
to retain the additional COPS-funded sworn 
positions and civilian positions with state or 
local funding at the conclusion of federal 
support. Therefore, other federal funding, 
including but not limited to UHP, MORE, 
Advancing Community Policing, Local 
Law Enforcement Block Grants (LLEBG), 
COPS in Schools, or Community 
Development Block Grants (CDBG), may 
not be used to fund the retention of officer 
or civilian positions. 


Failing to Plan for Retention 

Failure to document efforts to retain COPS-
funded positions, or making no efforts to 
retain, may result in the revocation or 
suspension of existing grant funds, rejection 
of pending applications, ineligibility for 
further COPS or Office of Justice Programs 
funding, and any other remedy the COPS 
Office deems appropriate. For audit 
purposes, records documenting retention 
must be available for review for up to three 
years after the conclusion of the grant. 

As part of our monitoring efforts, COPS, 
the Office of the Inspector General, and 
other U.S. Department of Justice 
representatives regularly review 
departments' progress in retention planning. 
Retention planning is a condition of the 
grant award and is a compliance 
requirement. COPS will track sworn and 
civilian position retention following the 
conclusion of each grant through a variety 
of monitoring activities, e.g., progress 
reports, site visits and office-based grant 
reviews. If your agency currently has an 
active grant, COPS will confirm retention 
planning when it conducts a monitoring site 
visit or an office-based grant review. 

Sample Retention Plans 

Across the country, agencies are using 
sound fiscal management policies to retain 
COPS-funded staff. Most grantees are 
retaining through budget requests to their 
governing bodies. In addition, agencies 
have turned to innovative funding avenues 
such as: 

• Collaborative arrangements with other 
  state/local agencies to share the cost of 
  positions based on assignments (e.g., 
  school districts, public housing); 
• Using funds from cost savings in other 
  government agencies; 
• Retiring municipal bonds; 
• Applying for other non-federal funding 
  sources such as state grants to support the 
  additional COPS positions at the 
  termination of the COPS grant; 
• Using funds from parking, traffic or
  ordinance enforcement;
• Using asset forfeiture funds; 
• Seeking law enforcement funding from 
  private sources, including corporate and 
  non-profit entities; and/or 
• Pursuing local revenue initiatives. 


This list is just a sample of the innovative 
approaches used to obtain funding to meet 
the retention requirement. The COPS 
Office does not recommend any one 
particular approach, but advises tailoring 
your retention plan to your community's 
specific circumstances. 

Grant Monitoring 

Retention Plans submitted to the COPS 
Office must include the following elements 
to be acceptable: 

Document co-signed by the highest ranking 
Law Enforcement Executive 
(Chief/Sheriff/Director of Public Safety, 
etc.) and the highest ranking Government 
Executive (Mayor/City Manager/Chairman 
of County Commission, etc.) that identifies: 

• The planned sources of funding for retaining 
  the position(s); and 

Jurisdictions must submit a retention plan at 
the time of application. For many programs 
a Retention Plan Certification is required 
which will serve as your offical retention 
plan. Grantee agencies must also submit 
these documents upon request by the COPS 
Office. 

Financial Distress and Retention 

Local fiscal and budgetary conditions 
cannot always be predicted. If 
circumstances arise which jeopardize the 
law enforcement agency's ability to retain, 
the COPS Office must be contacted 
immediately for a review of the retention 
plan and implementation efforts. The COPS 
Office will evaluate these situations on a 
case-by-case basis. Retention exemptions, 
are granted only in cases of severe local 
distress or other mitigating circumstances as 
deemed appropriate by the COPS Office. 
These exemptions are not an option and 
will not be considered during the pre-award 
phase. Exemptions to the retention plan 
requirement will not be considered until the 
last quarter of the grant period. 

For More Information 

For questions about the retention 
requirement, please contact your Grant 
Program Specialist by calling the U.S. 
Department of Justice Response Center at 
1.800.421.6770, or by visiting the COPS 
web site at: www.cops.usdoj.gov 

Updated March 8, 2002 
e03021448