Congressman Diane E. Watson - Representing California's 33rd Congressional District
For Immediate Release
May 15, 2007		 Contact: Bert Hammond
(202) 225-7084

Lois Hill Hale
(323) 965-1422		  
 
 

HOUSE PASSES BILL TO PUT 50,000 MORE COPS ON NATION’S STREETS – 33rd Congressional District to Receive Additional Police Officers

  
 
Washington, DC— Today, legislation supported by Representative Watson to put 50,000 more police officers on our nation’s streets passed the United States House of Representatives by a vote of 341 to 73. The legislation, H.R. 1700, The Community Oriented Police and Services Improvements (C.O.P.S.) Act, comes as violent crime is on the rise nationwide, according to a recent law enforcement association study and new FBI statistics. The legislation authorizes over $1 billion in new spending and grants for fiscal years 2008 to 2013.

“Our children are killing one another at an appalling rate,” Congresswoman Watson remarked on the House floor today in support of the C.O.P.S. legislation. “The Los Angeles Police Department recorded 7,714 gang crimes in 2006, a fourteen percent jump over the previous year. We need to take a comprehensive approach to combating gang violence and ensure that our youth have safe, quality schools that give them an alternative to the streets. We have the bill here today that does just that, the C.O.P.S. Improvements Act.”

The C.O.P.S. hiring program has been one of the most successful law enforcement programs in the nation’s history. To date the program has put almost 120,000 more officers on the street nationwide. Funded at over $1 billion a year near the end of the Clinton administration, the hiring portion of C.O.P.S. has been zeroed out under President Bush’s budget priorities.

The C.O.P.S. programs have also greatly benefited the 33rd Congressional District. Since 1994, $10 million in C.O.P.S. funding has flowed into in the 33rd Congressional District. In addition to providing more funds to put police officers on the beat, C.O.P.S. has allowed local law enforcement to hire more school resource officers and provided additional funds for training and upgrades in equipment.

 
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