Grants

We are pleased to announce an $800 School Resource Officer (SRO) Retention Bonus for all deputies and police officers who successfully completed an assignment as an SRO in the 2023-2024 academic school year and who are currently still serving your agency as an SRO.

Click here for the 2024 SRO Voucher.
Click here for the SRO Roster Request Form.

This request will be submitted electronically using the same methods that your bonus salary supplement was submitted earlier this year. 

To be eligible for these additional funds, officers must meet the following criteria:

* Current full-time law enforcement officer assigned currently as an SRO with your agency
* Completed an assignment as an SRO in the 2023-2024 academic year
* Completed the initial forty (40) hour SRO training for school policing as required by T.C.A. § 49-6-4217 if a new SRO for the 2023-2024 academic year or completed sixteen (16) hours of SRO in-service training. Agencies should maintain training files for their qualifying SROs in the event an audit is necessary.

Our goal is to have all paperwork submitted to POST by Monday, December 2, 2024, and all funds submitted for disbursement to local law enforcement by the close of the calendar year. This grant has a hard deadline of Tuesday, December 31, 2024. NO SUBMISSIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER DECEMBER 31st.

The Recruitment and Retention Grant (through the POST Commission) is designed to support making Tennessee the best state for law enforcement in the United States by attracting quality applicants from other states, as well as previously certified and new officers within Tennessee. This program will attempt to hire 1,000 police officers per year until the state’s law enforcement agencies could reduce staffing deficits caused by attrition, as well as provide bonuses to a minimum of 3,000 new law enforcement officers. 

Click here for the Recruitment and Retention grant invoice.

For purposes of this Grant Contract, definitions shall be as follows and as set forth in the Contract: 
a. “Eligible Officer” means an Experienced Officer or a No Previous Certified Experience Officer hired by a local law enforcement agency in Tennessee after May 1, 2023. An Eligible Officer cannot have previously surrendered a certification in any state, have been decertified by the POST Commission or equivalent in any state in the United States, or have been decertified as a result of a court order by any state or federal court.
b. “Experienced Officer” means
i. a law enforcement officer who has been POST-certified in Tennessee with a break inservice as a law enforcement officer of more than one (1) year but less than seven (7)years; or
ii. a law enforcement officer who has been POST-certified or the equivalent POST certification from any state in the United States, other than Tennessee, with a break inservice of less than seven (7) years.
c. “Longevity Milestone” means,for an Experienced Officer, the time periods of six (6) months, twelve (12) months, twenty-four (24) months, or thirty-six (36) months the Eligible Officer serves on the Grantee’s active roster. “Longevity Milestone” shall have the same definition for a No Previous Experience Officer except that it does not include six (6) months.
d. “No Previous Certified Experience Officer” means a law enforcement officer who has never been certified in Tennessee, or the equivalent in any state in the United States, or a previously certified officer with a break in law enforcement service of seven (7) years or more.

The TLETA Cost Sharing Grant will help reduce the cost to local law enforcement agencies when a new officer is sent to
the Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy, and for other training and professional development expenses. This includes three critical areas of assistance for local law enforcement agencies including paid tuition for Basic Police School, daily working uniforms and physical fitness gear, and assistance for incidental training expenses to offset ancillary costs of training new personnel.

If you have any questions, you can email POST.grants@tn.gov or call 615-741-8546.