WASHINGTON   –  “This week, a disturbing announcement was made by the U.S. Department of Justice.  They told Missourians that a new grant program made possible by the stimulus bill would add 118 law enforcement officers to our streets.  Well, that part sounds pretty good.

But it turns out to be good news if you live in St. Louis or Kansas City, and a big disappointment if you live pretty much anywhere else in the state.  Of those 118 law enforcement positions, the two major metropolitan areas in Missouri would get 115 officers, and the rest of the state would get three.  It’s the kind of hasty designation intended to get the money out as soon as possible, and it ignores the fact that taxpaying citizens of the Eighth Congressional District and others in our state need law enforcement in our towns, too.

Less than two percent of the funding provided to our state under this stimulus program will go to the rural areas of Missouri.  Our state’s share of federal COPS grants from the billion-dollar stimulus disbursement is $19,697,636, but only $282,350 will be spent on the three positions in Hollister, Parma and Kennett.

It’s an understatement to say that this arrangement is a slight to the residents of rural areas.  I call it neglectful.

In Southern Missouri, we have hardworking, dedicated law enforcement departments.  In addition to policing our communities, they also take on the responsibility of covering our rural counties and acres of national forests.  They take the lead as part of our drug task forces, working with state and federal authorities to prevent the production, trafficking and distribution of methamphetamine, and they are some of the best volunteers in our communities – giving back not only through their service in uniform but also as private citizens who want to see our cities and towns succeed and thrive.

The stimulus grant program for law enforcement largely ignores those qualities in our rural law enforcement.  Approximately one in seven applications for grant funding through this round of Community Oriented Policing Services grants was successful, meaning more than 80 percent of them were rejected.  Instead, two communities in our state, the City of Kansas City and the City of St. Louis, received 50 grants each for new law enforcement officers.  Those nice, round numbers seem too convenient to me.

This is a flaw in the stimulus package that led me to oppose that $787 billion spending bill in the first place.  Compared to the full amount of the stimulus, the latest round of law enforcement grants is only a small fraction of the overall spending, but it is still $1 billion – and that’s nothing to sneeze at.  I am very concerned any time federal funding is distributed without making a full and public accounting of how the grants were awarded, why so many were rejected, and why there is such a great disparity between urban and rural areas.

When decisions rest with Congress, that disparity is seldom seen, because congressional representatives have the opportunity they deserve to advocate for their districts and the communities in them.  It’s exactly why I can be successful year after year when I press Congress for funding for our drug task forces in Southern Missouri and nationwide funding for High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas. 

But when congressional authority is breached by the power of an administrative agency, in this case the Department of Justice, to make funding decisions behind closed doors, we set a dangerous precedent.  The stimulus was the vehicle for removing Congress from the decision-making process.  The public transparency requirements of that legislation have not been delivered as promised.  And many Americans in rural areas, me chief among them, are left to wonder why it is this way and how our local law enforcement departments will be able to make do.”