Congressman Loebsack Votes to Put More Cops on the Streets

Press Release

Today, Congressman Dave Loebsack (IA-02) voted in support of the COPS Improvements Act of 2009 (H.R. 1139). This bipartisan bill authorizes $3.05 billion a year for Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) programs and will provide three times the currently authorized funding levels. This includes $1.25 billion a year for COPS hiring grants, $350 million a year for COPS technology grants, and $200 million a year for hiring community prosecutors. To date, COPS grants have funded 743 additional police officers and sheriffs deputies to engage in community policing activities, including crime prevention, in Iowa.

"I am proud to be a co-sponsor of a bill that will help keep our families and communities safe. Enhancing the COPS program, and placing more officers on the streets of Iowa is a priority," said Congressman Loebsack. "This program has been one of the most successful law enforcement programs in our nation's history. The COPS program will allow Iowa to hire an additional 318 officers."

The COPS hiring grants program, created under the Clinton Administration in 1994, was an enormously successful, popular program. Under the COPS hiring grants program, our nation experienced a significant drop in crime rates - and independent studies confirm that these grants played a significant role. According to a nonpartisan GAO 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.

Crime tends to increase with economic woes. Often bad economic times will cut into crime prevention. With our economy in trouble, crime, in particular violent crime, is rising. Reauthorization of the COPS program in addition to the $1 billion for the COPS Hiring Grant program included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will work to reverse this trend and keep our communities safe

"With crime back on the rise, reauthorizing the COPS program is more vital than ever," concluded Congressman Loebsack. "This bill - by authorizing COPS hiring grants, COPS technology grants, and grants to hire additional community prosecutors - will once again give our local law enforcement agencies the tools they need to fight crime and help us bring crime rates back down."

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