LYNN – A plan by Gov. Deval Patrick to fight youth gangs by funding new police officers is being met with resistance by police departments in urban communities that would rather use the money to preserve the jobs of officers already employed.When Patrick began his gubernatorial duties last year, he promised to hire 1,000 new officers in urban areas. Those officers would specifically combat gang violence, but two consecutive budget deficits exceeding $1 billion have left only enough funds to pay for 40.Lynn Police Chief John Suslak said Kurt Schwartz, the governor’s undersecretary for public safety, has been assisting city officials in getting their concerns heard and the situation resolved.”We’re one of the communities that reached out in that regard.”We would love to have the money, but not if we have to guarantee we are going to keep those officers employed. We just don’t know what FY2009 is going to look like,” Suslak said.The funding comes with strings attached. Namely, communities accepting the funds are required to keep the new hires on the payroll even if it means laying off other officers. But the situation could change.”The latest twist, to my understanding, is that we can take the money as long as we use it to prevent or reduce the number of layoffs,” said Suslak, whose department has 182 employees.The chief noted that the governor’s offer is actually better than the COPS grants provided by former President Bill Clinton that put 100,000 police officers on the streets in the U.S.Under Clinton’s deal, communities that accepted one or more officers benefited nicely the first year, but afterward found themselves responsible for the new officer’s benefits, retirement, disability, vacation time and other employee costs.Patrick’s plan amounts to $320,000 for Lynn and theoretically would fund four anti-gang officers.”We figure we could hire six officers for that amount,” said Suslak, explaining he would rather not hire any officers who might soon be laid off due to budget deficits. “I’d rather stabilize the employees we have now. If it turns out that the upcoming fiscal year is better than we thought, then we could possibly hire.”Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr. said the city initially refused the grant money because of the stipulations about using the officers for anti-gang duties and having to pledge not to lay them off.”Everything Gov. Patrick said he would do during his campaign – cut property taxes and hire more police – has been fool’s gold. There’s no additional money for police. If the state wants to set up a program to hire police, and put some money behind it, I say wonderful. But that hasn’t happened,” said Clancy. “Every city in the commonwealth, not just Lynn, is faced with a financial tsunami come July 1, meaning increased property taxes and reductions in services. Taxes are going to go up and services are doing to go down.”As for vowing not lay off the special anti-gang officers, he said, “If you got into a bind financially, you would find yourself in the crosshairs of civil service law, the union contract, and the grant language. So all you would get out of it is more litigation. People often don’t understand that the initial funding for these programs doesn’t pay for any of the benefits, and the benefits are at least 25 percent of the package.”In Brockton, Police Chief William Conlon has been battling a wave of gang-related crimes in a city where four murders have occurred since Jan. 1. Conlon told the governor he could not accept the funds to hire gang-unit officers at a time when he lacks adequate money to pay department salaries.According to Conlon, his department has been bolstered daily by up to 20 state police officers whose task is to keep gang activity in check.