Nevada tribes receive grants to hire police officers

Three Nevada Indian tribes are among the 179 recipients of federal grant money to hire full time police officers.

A total of $98 million in grants has been awarded through the Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program.

Nationwide, the funding will allow those law enforcement agencies to hire 802 full time police officers.

In Nevada, the Fallon Paiute Shoshone, Pyramid Lake Paiute and Temoak Western Shoshone tribes each received $125,000 to hire one officer apiece.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said 80 percent of those grant recipients have agreed to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

“I applaud their commitment to the rule of law and to ending violent crime including violent crime stemming from illegal immigration,” he said in a statement.