The city of Phoenix has been awarded more than $3 million by the federal government to hire more police officers.   

The grant is part of a larger effort to expand the force.

The $3.1 million comes from the U.S. Justice Department’s COPS Hiring Program and will be used to pay for 25 new officers to be added to the Phoenix Police Department over the next three years.

In a statement, Mayor Greg Stanton said he was “thankful” that Phoenix was chosen and called it part of an effort to strengthen and improve police and community relations.

But it’s only a small piece of a bigger pie. With the federal cash infusion and the passage of the transportation initiative, Proposition 104, last month, Stanton noted that the city now has funds to add a total of 295 new officers by the start of the 2017 fiscal year next July.