Four major cities — New York, Seattle, Houston, and Pittsburgh — will get no money from a $1 billion economic stimulus program to help cities avoid laying off police officers, officials told The Associated Press on Monday.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the details publicly, said about 7,000 state and local agencies applied for aid under the COPS program that is part of the $787 billion stimulus package passed earlier this year. Only about 1,000 were approved.

Justice Department spokeswoman Hannah August declined to comment in advance of the official announcement.

Vice President Joe Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder are to appear in Philadelphia on Tuesday to announce who gets what.

There will be plenty of winners, though, in the COPS grant program:

The Philadelphia Police Department will get money to create or keep 50 law enforcement jobs.

The police department in Rochester, N.Y. will get money to create or save about 30 law enforcement jobs.

Kalamazoo, Mich., will get nearly $2 million for 10 officer positions.

The roughly 1,000 places getting COPS aid also include: Mobile, Ala., Mesa, Ariz., Tulare County, Calif., Monroe County, Fla., the Seminole Tribe of Florida, Baltimore, Providence, R.I., Salt Lake City, Utah, and Huntington, W.Va.

As local governments bleed red ink and officials look to plug budget gaps, they have swamped the government with a record number of requests for aid under the program. There is only $1 available in grant money for every $8 sought.

As a result, the Justice Department decided the most worthy cities were those that faced serious budgetary problems and those that have relatively high crime rates.

New York is less needy by both measures, officials said, because of its low crime rate and stable city budget. New York also has the largest single police force in the country, and received some money from a different stimulus program earlier this year, about $29 million.

But the Big Apple also has a touchy history with Washington when it comes to federal aid for police costs. In 2006, the Bush administration sparked an uproar when it slashed homeland security money for New York.

Rep. Peter King of New York, the senior Republican on the Homeland Security Committee, criticized the decision.

“It is disgraceful for New York City to be shut out just because the NYPD is doing such a great job under trying circumstances and Mayor (Mike) Bloomberg is doing such a wonderful job of managing the city’s finances,” said King, adding that the city “is the No. 1 terrorist target and should not be penalized for its success.”

Officials familiar with Tuesday’s announcement said the Justice Department estimates the grant awards will help hire 3,818 new officers, and retain 881 positions that would otherwise be lost to budgetary belt-tightening.

That makes a total of 4,699 officers — still short of the program’s announced goal of hiring 5,000 officers.

Under the COPS program, the federal government pays the officers’ salary and benefits for three years, after which the local government is responsible for the costs.

Local police chiefs have been waiting anxiously for months to learn what they will receive, and understood even before the decisions were announced that many of them would be disappointed.

Source: AP