Today, Congressman Josh Gottheimer joined with Paramus Mayor Richard LaBarbiera, the Paramus Police Department, the Bergen County PBA, and members of the Paramus Council to announce the town’s new $1,875,000 ROI grant. These resources will be used to train and hire five new Paramus police officers through Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Grant program. The borough intends to fill all five positions with post-September 11, 2001 military veterans.

The grant is worth $625,000 each year for three years and will be used to train and hire five new officers to fight crime and combat ISIS-inspired lone wolf terror.

This grant is part of Gottheimer’s agenda of supporting first responders and veterans, and lowering our property taxes by getting a better return on investment (ROI) here in the Fifth District for all of those tax dollars already sent to Washington. The District pays some of the highest federal taxes in the nation, but prior to Gottheimer coming to Congress, only got back 33 cents on the dollar for what is sent to Washington, compared to $4.38 in Mississippi.
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The five new community police officers will be tasked with protecting Paramus’ malls from acts of terror; the Garden State Plaza, where a gunman entered in November 2013, is currently classified by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as a Tier One critical infrastructure site.

The grant is only the second COPS Grant that the Fifth District has received since 2012 and the first since 2014.

Video of the announcement can be found HERE.

“I’m fighting to claw back federal dollars for North Jersey to put cops on the street and keep our families and businesses safe from crime and ISIS-inspired lone wolf terrorism. Paramus’ COPS grant is a great example of how more New Jersey towns should be competing to claw back our federal tax dollars, so other Moocher States don’t take our tax dollars. We need to invest them into our families’ security and New Jersey jobs. These resources will help hire post-9/11 veterans, who deserve the best career opportunities available to them when they return home,” said Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5). “Our police officers are heroes — they deserve our deep appreciation for their work and they deserve our full support for everything they do to protect our communities from crime and lone wolf terror. I can imagine no better return on investment than bringing our federal tax dollars back home to hire veterans to protect our communities.”

Said Paramus Mayor Richard LaBarbiera, “Paramus is thrilled to receive these federal resources to hire five more cops to protect North Jersey communities. I’m proud to stand with Congressman Gottheimer to make sure our police have the staff necessary to keep Paramus safe. They work tirelessly to protect our children, families, and businesses from crime, drugs, and lone wolf terror. Congressman Gottheimer was here in May talking about how this grant could help Paramus, and his office has been there to help us through the application process, making sure that we get the resources we need to keep New Jersey families safe.”

Said Fran O’Rourke, of the Bergen County PBA Conference, “This is evidence of getting law enforcement the resources needed to protect the residents of the Fifth District. The Bergen County PBA Conference is proud to call Congressman Gottheimer a friend and will continue to stand behind him.”

Below: Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5), Paramus Mayor Richard LaBarbiera, and Fran O’Rourke announce a $1,875,000 COPS grant for Paramus.