Coming soon to the Auburn Police Department — a three-year, $750,000 grant from the U.S Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services Hiring Program.

And because of that grant, to Auburn residents by late 2107 or early 2018, six new police officers on the streets, bulking up the force to 117 commissioned officers, Auburn Police Chief Bob Lee said Monday.

The grant represents a slice of a total $119 million in grants to be awarded be 184 law enforcement agencies across the nation, United States Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch said Monday.

One condition of the grant is that the police department has to maintain the six positions for a fourth year, and Lee said the City should be able to do that, and beyond. Certainly what will help, Lee added, is that the City is now considering an increase in the cable tax to create a sustainable funding source.

“We’re confident we can keep those guys,” Lee said.

Lynch said the awards are about creating, or in some cases protecting, more than 900 law enforcement positions.

The program provides funding directly to state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies for the hiring and rehiring of entry-level career law enforcement officers to create and preserve jobs and increase community policing capacity and crime prevention efforts.

Like all grant applicants, Auburn was asked to identify a specific crime and disorder problem area and how it would use the funding to initiate or enhance its capacity to implement community policing approaches to that problem area.

Listed below are five of the six positions Lee expects to fill.

In the fallout of the Great Recession, Lee said, the Auburn Police Department lost two pro-active detectives, that is, plain-clothes detectives, who, for example, handle undercover operations, pursue people with warrants, deal with burglars at night, etc.

“It’s about pro-active rather than reactive policing,” Lee said. “This funding source brings back two officers, so will have three proactive detectives. Our detective division has a higher case load than it did in 2008, and we’re adding a major crimes detective. The City Council has also been very supportive of our downtown bicycle program, and we’re adding another bicycle patrol officer, for a total of four.

“And we’ll be adding a daytime K9 officer. Many times when we have a burglary suspect. or someone who’s fleeing in a stolen car, we don’t have a dog available, so we’ll ask our local partners in mutual aid if they have a dog. Some do, many don’t,” Lee said.

Lee credited U.S. Congressman Dave Reichert with helping Auburn to secure the grant funding.

In 2016, the COPS Office gave additional consideration to applicant agencies selecting the category of “Building Trust,” based on the final report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. Additional consideration was also given to agencies that selected the areas of school-based policing, homicide or violent crime and homeland security. Applicants who committed to hiring or rehiring at least one military veteran under CHP also received additional consideration for funding.

The COPS Office is a federal agency responsible for advancing community policing nationwide. Since 1995, COPS has invested over $14 billion to advance community policing, including grants awarded to more than 13,000 state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies to fund the hiring and redeployment of approximately 129,000 officers and provide a variety of knowledge resource products including publications, training, and technical assistance.