Josephf Ryan News Today

The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforce­ment Act of 1994authorized the creation of an intergovernmental grant programwithin the U.S. Department of Justice to fund the hiring andrede­ployment of 100,000 additional community polic­ingofficers on America's streets. The program that administers thegrants is the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services(COPS).

After September 11, The United States cannot afford to wastevaluable resources on misplaced priorities and ineffectiveprograms. Common sense dictates that resources should be shiftedaway from the ineffective programs of the DOJ to programs that willbetter protect America's security.

For the past seven years, the most prominent federalcrime-prevention initiative has been the Community OrientedPolicing Services (COPS) program, which gives grants to state andlocal law enforcement agencies to help them reduce crime byincreasing community policing services.

The Bush Administration's budget for fiscal year 2004 recommendsmajor changes at the U.S. Department of Justice. Among theAdministration's proposals are that hiring grants administered bythe Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) beeliminated in FY 2004 and that overall funding for COPS be reducedto retarget funding for more urgent priorities.