Supporting COPS

In a speech to the Economic Club of Detroit in May 1999, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., committed to speak on the issue of gun crimes each week that the Senate is in session. This is the 199th week he has continued to live up to his pledge; his remarks follow:

Combating violent crime, especially gun crime, requires that our law enforcement agencies are adequately staffed and equipped. I have been a strong supporter of the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program. The COPS program has been critical to our nation’s law enforcement community since its creation in 1994 and I am pleased to join Senator Biden as a cosponsor of the COPS Reauthorization Act.

The COPS program was designed to assist state and local law enforcement agencies in hiring additional police officers to reduce crime through the use of community policing. In Michigan alone, 514 local and state law enforcement agencies have received more than $220 million in grants through the COPS program since its creation. These grants have improved the safety of communities by putting more than 3,300 law enforcement officers on Michigan streets and by supporting other important programs. Nationwide, the COPS program has awarded more than $11 billion in grants, resulting in the hiring of 118,000 additional police officers.

In my home state, the Detroit Police Department (DPD) used a COPS grant to hire additional officers that were needed to implement a five-year community policing plan. Prior to the COPS grant award, the DPD lacked sufficient personnel to effectively cover high crime areas. The community policing plan placed teams of officers in neighborhoods to combat rising crime rates and work with residents to develop crime reduction strategies. The plan resulted in a drop in the number of reported violent crimes as well as improved police-community relations. The success of the Detroit Police Department illustrates the important role that COPS grants play in the safety of communities around the country.

Unfortunately, authorization for the COPS program was permitted to expire at the end of fiscal year 2000. Although the program has survived through the annual appropriations process, it has received significant funding cuts. In fact, the Fiscal Year 2005 Omnibus Appropriations Act included only $606 million for the COPS program, $142 million below the amount appropriated in 2004. In addition, President Bush’s Fiscal Year 2006 Budget would completely eliminate the COPS hiring grants. Despite the important positive impact of the COPS program in Detroit and across the country, the president justified his cuts by calling the program “non-performing” and not having “a record of demonstrating results.” Our state and local law enforcement agencies know better and we should listen to them.

The COPS Reauthorization Act would continue the COPS program for another six years at a funding level of $1.15 billion per year. This funding would allow state and local governments to hire an additional 50,000 police officers over the next six years. In addition, the bill would modernize the COPS program by authorizing $350 million in Law Enforcement Technology Grants to assist police departments in acquiring new technologies for the analysis of crime data and the examination of DNA evidence, among other uses. The COPS Reauthorization Act would also build upon the accomplishments of the original COPS program by authorizing $200 million in Community Prosecutor Grants. These grants would be used to hire community prosecutors trained to work at the local and neighborhood level to prevent crime and improve relations with residents.

At a time when we are asking more of our police departments than ever before, I believe we should be devoting more resources to the COPS program, not less. The increased threat of terrorism as well as the continuing epidemic of gun violence underscores the need for more resources for our law enforcement agencies. Recognizing this, we must build upon the past success of the COPS program and continue to work to provide police departments with the tools and resources they need to help keep our families and communities safe.