(Warwick, R.I.) Congressman Jim Langevin (D-RI) yesterday joined his colleagues in passing H.R. 1700, the COPS Reauthorization Act.  This measure is designed to help local law enforcement agencies to hire an additional 50,000 police officers over the next six years.

“I was proud to vote for this measure that will reinvigorate the highly successful COPS hiring grants program,” said Langevin.  “President Bush and the Republican-led Congress eliminated the program last year—but this critical bill brings these highly effective hiring grants back.”
 
From 1995 -2005, the COPS hiring grants program, created under the Clinton Administration, helped local law enforcement agencies hire 117,000 additional police officers, which played an important role in significantly reducing crime across the country.  Over those 10 years, Rhode Island received $34.9 million in COPS funding, which enabled the state to hire an additional 385 police officers.

Unfortunately, over the last few years, the Bush Administration and Republican-led Congress showed little support for COPS hiring grants – reducing funding from more than $1 billion a year in the late 1990s to $198 million in 2003 and $10 million in 2005.  Then, in 2006, the Republican Leadership completely eliminated the program.

“This bill relaunches the highly successful COPS program – this time calling for funding to allow for the hiring of up to 50,000 new police officers over the next six years,” said Langevin. “With passage of this reauthorization, an additional 165 police officers will likely be hired in Rhode Island over the course of the next six years.”

Under the COPS hiring grants program, the nation experienced a significant drop in crime rates, and independent studies confirm that these grants played a significant role. For example, a nonpartisan GAO study concluded, “COPS-funded increases in sworn officers per capita were associated with declines in rates of total index crimes, violent crimes, and property crime.”  According to the study, between 1998 and 2000, the hiring grants were responsible for reducing crimes by about 200,000 to 225,000 crimes – one third of which were violent.  

This legislation was endorsed by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Sheriffs Association, the Fraternal Order of Police, the National Association of Police Organizations, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and the National League of Cities.

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