Congressman Sorensen visits Normal to award grant to NPD

NORMAL — Congressman Eric Sorensen visited uptown Normal to deliver a $750,000 check for the Normal Police Department to hire and train six new officers. "This is a win for Normal," the Democrat who represents Illinois' 17th Congressional District said Thursday afternoon. "It's a win for every neighbor sending their kids to school every day.

It's a win for public safety, and it's a win for all of us who want to see our community stronger, safer and more united than ever before." The funds were awarded as part of the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) hiring program through the U.S.



Department of Justice . Those six officers have already been hired but will spend the next several months training for their community engagement roles, said Normal Police Chief Steve Petrilli. "It does take a while to train folks to where they're ready to actually be on the street, if you will," he said.

Securing federal funds for local police is paramount to ensuring law enforcement agencies are fully staffed and trained as local funding options grow scarcer, Sorensen said. "Budgets are tight," he said. "And, too often, departments are forced to choose between recruiting new officers and investing in training and wellness.

" While the police department is fully staffed, as far as the town's budget allows, the increasing number of calls for emergency services means the department needed to expand, Petrilli said. Instead of trying to change the town's budget, "(we) decided to take some steps, and I give a lot of credit to my staff, to go through the grant application process," Petrilli said. "And through that process we saw a great partnership in Washington D.

C. And now we're here." That partnership between representatives and constituents is core to American life, said recently reelected Mayor Chris Koos.

"This is the basics of government in this country and democracy," Koos said. "..

. They're here to help the communities like Normal and the people that live in their districts." Sorensen said that includes pushing back against the Trump administration's cuts to ensure federal grants like COPS can continue.

"This isn't government waste. This isn't fraud. This isn't abuse," Sorensen said, echoing language the Trump administration has used to explain deep federal spending cuts.

"This is making sure that we're getting lead from the pipes that are going into homes, right? It's making sure that we're doing what's right by our law enforcement, our men (and) women in blue, right? Why should we be cutting these things out?" Such spending cuts are a "systemic issue" in D.C., Sorensen said.

"They want to take a chainsaw to everything and then piece it back when they realize that they have made a mistake, because that's what's going on today," he said..