GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — The Greensboro Police Department has been awarded a federal grant for roughly $3.7 million that will allow them to hire 30 additional law enforcement officers — and that’s not all. Since 2020, GPD’s staffing has ebbed and flowed… at one point, they needed more than 100 officers to fill their staff. Now, they’ve reduced vacancies to just 13 unfilled positions. Chief John Thompson has been at the helm for almost two years come December, but he was faced with steep challenges when he took the job. Now, he’s starting to see the results of hard work to recruit and retain officers. “A lot of people referred to them as the Clinton cops, because under president Clinton it was a really popular program.” The Cops Hiring Program began in the mid-90s, a Department of Justice program offering grants aimed at helping police departments hire officers. $3.7 million awarded to the Greensboro Police Department will pay 75% of 30 new officer’s salaries for three years. The city offsets the rest. “When i took the job in ‘22,” Thompson said, “we were somewhere around 125, 130 vacancies in the department, and it was a significant issue.” Facing those triple-digit shortages two years ago, he took a different approach “I need these raises, I need to keep my officers here,” Thompson said of his mindset. In 2023, he asked Greensboro City Council to cut 30 open sworn positions and use the money saved to boost pay for his officers. They evaluated benefits and put an emphasis on culture. It worked. Applications started coming in. Almost two years later… “I just talked to our HR person in the hall… we’re at 13 vacancies,” Thompson said with a smile. “People want to go work someplace that they feel valued,” he said of the importance of the PD’s relationship with the city council and the culture of support for law enforcement. There are still challenges ahead… ones additional officers could help tackle. Homicide numbers are down in 2024. Violent crime is down. There have been more than 40 traffic-related fatalities this year in the city. “We’ve seen a couple areas, one, traffic. Unfortunately, when we did our reorganization two years ago, we did away with the traffic unit. We have heard from the community and that was the number one issue,” said Thompson. With the grant, GPD can put more officers back out on the streets, in an attempt to save lives. “The only thing that’s really going to change the behavior in the community is enforcement and we need the resources to be able to do that,” he said. He also wants to target reducing auto-related crimes, like when people steal firearms from cars or steal cars directly --- acts that often lead to an increase in violent crime. He also has an eye on increasing resources for the growing downtown area. In total, the CHP program awarded $8.6 million to departments in North Carolina, with Greensboro receiving the largest chink of that amount. Keep an eye on  GPD’s website for employment opportunities.