No Matching Funds

The Spokane Police Department and Spokane County Sheriff’s Office are among agencies nationwide that haven’t spent all the federal money they’ve received over the years to hire new cops.

Since 1992, both agencies have applied for and received millions of dollars in federal money under the Clinton administration’s program to put 100,000 new police officers on the nation’s streets.

Much of that money has gone unspent because local officials have been reluctant or unable to raise the necessary matching money.

The Spokane Police Department hired 25 new officers under the program and used other cash to improve department technology to free up cops already on the force.

But the department has had to ignore another $2.5 million in federal money because of local budget problems, which were exacerbated recently by the passage of state Initiative 695.

The sheriff’s office recently accepted $225,000 in federal money to hire nine new deputies for the traffic unit.

But $700,000 in federal money for five school resource deputies is in limbo while Sheriff Mark Sterk negotiates with local school districts and the state for matching money.