BIDDEFORD — The Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, known as COPS, has awarded $650,000 to two Maine communities to fund five positions for school resource officer positions. These grant awards are part of nearly $124 million awarded nationally.

In Maine, $250,000 has been awarded to the City of Biddeford to fund two officers and $375,000 has been awarded to the City of Lewiston to fund three officers.

The COPS Hiring Program offers grants to state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to hire or rehire community policing officers. The program provides the salary and benefits for officer hires for three years.

“The COPS Office is pleased to assist local law enforcement agencies throughout the country in addressing their most critical public safety issues,” said Ronald L. Davis, director of the COPS Office. “Funding from this year’s program will allow many cities and counties to apply new sworn personnel to issues related to violent crime, property crime, and school safety.”

Grantees for the 2014 hiring program were selected based on their fiscal needs, local crime rates, and their community policing plans. School resource officer positions funded by the COPS Office are sworn law enforcement positions that work within a school district or facility, interacting directly with school administrators and students.

The COPS Office is a federal agency responsible for advancing community policing nationwide.

Chief Roger Beaupre of the Biddeford Police Department said that he is “very appreciative that the COPS program is supporting the needs of cities and towns like Biddeford in these times when we have difficulty obtaining budget funds to meet the needs of the City of Biddeford. This grant will allow us to continue to deploy two officers to our schools and backfill two regular positions.”

Biddeford has a total of 45 officers.