Law
Enforcement, Crime Victims Programs Funded In Stimulus Package
WASHINGTON (Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2009) – A key Senate
panel has approved funding for critical federal grant programs to assist
state and local law enforcement to combat crime in our neighborhoods,
and funding for increased assistance to crime victims. Earlier
this month, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), a senior member of the Senate
Appropriations Committee and the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary
Committee, proposed including the funding in the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009.
The stimulus package approved Tuesday by the Senate
Appropriations Committee includes $2.64 billion for state and local law
enforcement, including funding for Byrne-Justice Assistance Grants for
crime prevention and prosecution, Byrne Competitive Grants for crime
prevention, intervention and prosecution activities, and funding for
Rural Drug Enforcement Assistance. The stimulus plan also includes
$1 billion for the Community Orienting Policing Services (COPS) grant
program. Funding awarded to states through the COPS program goes
directly to state and local governments to help hire law enforcement
officers to provide safer economic conditions in our communities. This
past weekend, White House Economic Advisor Lawrence Summers voiced
strong support for the law enforcement assistance component of the
stimulus, saying, “Saving their jobs is saving jobs, it’s helping the
economy, it’s protecting our neighborhoods.”
“American families are struggling in this time of
economic stress,” Leahy said. “It is important that we support the
most vulnerable Americans who have been hit the hardest. Victims of
crime who are paralyzed by fear, victims of mortgage fraud, and
businesses looking to law enforcement to curb crime and vandalism need
our help. We cannot stimulate our economy without protecting and
preserving the safety and vitality of our local economies.”
The stimulus package also includes Leahy-backed funding for programs and
services to help crime victims, including $100 million for victims’
compensation and assistance to ensure that those already victimized by
crime are not also the victims of a struggling economy. The
funding bill contains an additional $300 million dollars in grants for
the Office on Violence Against Women, including $250 million for the
STOP (Services, Training, Officers, Prosecutors) grant program and $50
million for the Transition Housing Assistance Program, which helps
states fund programs to provide safe havens for victims of domestic
violence, who find safe housing options shrinking with the growing
mortgage and housing crisis.
Another key component of the stimulus package approved
by the Senate Appropriations Committee pushed strongly by Leahy is the
provision of $75 million for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
to investigate and prosecute mortgage fraud, predatory lending financial
fraud, and market manipulation. The FBI in the last year has
received more than 60,000 Suspicious Activity Reports from banks, a
number which has doubled in three years, but currently has fewer than
200 agents assigned to investigate these criminal allegations. The
funding included in the stimulus will help the FBI hold accountable
those responsible for contributing to our economic crisis.
On Jan. 8, Leahy devoted the
first Senate Judiciary hearing of the year to examining how best to
help state and local law enforcement officers and agencies during the
deepening economic downturn. Witnesses testified about the
importance of federal grant programs, like the Community Orienting
Policing Services grant program and the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant
program help state and local law enforcement keep police officers
employed and on the streets, protecting our neighborhoods and ensuring
the economic vitality of our communities. The Committee hearing
also made clear the need for targeted funds, also included in the Senate
stimulus plan, for law enforcement in rural communities which are often
particularly hard pressed to find adequate resources to deal with rising
crime in tough economic times and to assist victims of crime.
On Jan. 6, the first bill Leahy
introduced this Congress was the Rural Law Enforcement Assistance
Act, which aims to help local law enforcement agencies address crime
problems that are expected to grow worse with the mounting economic
downturn. On Monday, Leahy
introduced the Improving Assistance to Domestic and Sexual Violence
Victims Act to address the needs of the growing number of domestic
violence victims.
Department of Justice Programs that will receive
funding in the Committee-passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
of 2009 include:
State and Local Law Enforcement
Assistance: $2.64 billion
o
Byrne-Justice Assistance Grants: $1.5
billion
o
Byrne Competitive Grants: $440 million
o
Rural Drug Enforcement Assistance: $150
million
o
Crime Victims Assistance: $100 million
o
Internet Crimes Against Children Task
Force Program: $50 million
o
Southwest Border/Project Gunrunner: $100
million
o
Tribal Law Enforcement Assistance: $300
million
Community Oriented Policing Services: $1
billion (for grants to state and local governments to hire additional
law enforcement officers)
Office of Violence Against Women: $300 million
o
STOP Formula Grants: $250 million
o
Transitional Housing Assistance Program:
$50 million
Federal Bureau of Investigation: $75 million
(to investigate mortgage fraud, predatory lending financial fraud, and
market manipulation)
Tactical Law Enforcement Wireless Communications:
$200 million
Office of the Federal Detention Trustee: $150
million (related to housing federal detainees)
Office of Inspector General: $2 million (for
oversight and audit of grants, contracts and programs funded in the
stimulus)
United States Marshals Service: $50 million (to
implement and enforce the Adam Walsh Protection and Safety Act)
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