By RUSS OLIVO

In the single biggest chunk of economic stimulus money to hit the Blackstone Valley yet, police departments in the struggling cities of Pawtucket, Woonsocket and Central Falls received more than $2.8 million in all under a program to restore law enforcement jobs cut from local budgets,  federal officials announced Tuesday.

Of the total, Woonsocket received $660,024 to hire four police officers, Central Falls $426,664 for two. But the big winner among the Blackstone Valley recipients in the COPS Recovery Hiring Program sweepstakes was Pawtucket, raking in $1,756,812 for six officers.
“They gave us everything we were looking for,” said Pawtucket Police Chief George Kelley. “That would be the whole ball of wax, covering salaries, pensions and everything            else for three years.”
The grants, administered by the U.S. Department of Justice's Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) division,  were announced in Washington, D.C. Tuesday in a joint statement by Vice President Joseph Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder.
They were part of over $1 billion doled out as a comparatively small subset of funds to be distributed under the mammoth $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, otherwise known as the economic stimulus package.
The three Blackstone Valley police units were among five law enforcement agencies in the state that received grants, officials said. The Providence Police Department also received more than $3.5 million to hire 13 officers, and the Narragansett Indian Tribe $133,989 for one.
Although federal officials said that 1,046 law enforcement agencies in 50 states would receive grants, requests for funds far outstripped the available money. The justice department said it received over 7,200 applications seeking some $8.3 billion for more than 39,000 law enforcement positions, which means the grants represent roughly $1 for every $7 applicants sought.
All the grants are intended to pay the salaries and benefits of police officers for three years. Recipients are expected to pick up the freight in the fourth year – raising the specter of renewed cash-flow problems for cities and towns when the funding lapses. A similar mandate in a program initiated during the Clinton administration in the 1990s was heavily criticized.
While Pawtucket received 100 percent of its funding request, not all of the recipients were as lucky. Woonsocket Police Chief Tom Carey said the city had been seeking funds to fill 13 open spots in all. Most of the vacancies represent the positions of retirees that were deliberately left vacant as the city grapples with deficits on the municipal and educational side of local government.
But Carey said the $666,024 boost will be tremendously beneficial and he added that he was was prepared to offer jobs to four recruits on a ready-to-go waiting list before the close of business Tuesday. In addition to the officers that would be subsidized with stimulus funds, Carey said the city was looking to extend a job offer to a fifth candidate at its own expense.
“I'm not disappointed,” said Carey. “It's great to get something.”
The Woonsocket Police Department is contractually authorized to maintain a force of 101 officers, Carey said, but due to budget cuts the troop strength is down to 86. Under a recent arbitration order, the city must beef up manpower to no fewer than 91 officers by the end of the month, a level the department will easily be able to meet with help from the stimulus funds.
Chief Kelley said Pawtucket is budgeted for 153 cops, but the police union voluntarily agreed to trim manpower by six positions in order to avoid layoffs. The stimulus funds will allow the department to regain its full strength for the same amount of time the union agreed to leave the positions unfilled – three years.
Meanwhile, Central Falls Police Chief Joseph Moran said his department received funding to fill two of the three positions it had applied for – enough to bring the department to 44 members. That's about as robust as the department has ever been, according to Moran, who said there were once 45 officers on the payroll for a very brief period.
“I regard this money as allowing us to bring on additional police officers and it's very much appreciated,” said Moran. “The more cops you put out on the street, the better it is.”
 Calling public safety is “utmost concern,” Central Falls Mayor Charles Moreau called the grant “great” and pledged to “continue chasing more money to put more officers on the street.”
The state's congressional delegation hailed the funds as a boon for public safety.
 “These federal funds will ensure that our communities are able to create and preserve critical law enforcement jobs while protecting public safety,” said Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), a member of the appropriations committee which funds the COPS program. “I am pleased to support this investment which will keep police officers in our neighborhoods and  help ease some of the pressures on local budgets.”
Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) said the federal funding will “enable local communities throughout the state to hire 26 additional police officers who will help serve and protect the people of Rhode Island.”
In announcing the grants, Vice President Biden said that a big part of the economic stimulus package is about “building communities” and “allowing every American family to live a better life than the one they are leading now. And we can't achieve the goal of stronger communities without supporting those who keep our streets safe.”