Senator Feinstein Cosponsors Plan to Hire 50,000 Cops Nationwide

Senator Feinstein Cosponsors Plan to Hire 50,000 Cops Nationwide
April 29, 2005

Washington, DC - U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein today announced that she is cosponsoring legislation introduced by Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-Del.) and 34 other Senators to enable local police departments to hire 50,000 additional cops by extending the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program through 2011.

"With the help of the COPS program, crime has dropped by 30 percent nationally since 1994," Senator Feinstein said. "COPS has helped local police departments hire additional community police officers and invest in new technologies to fight crime. It is an extremely effective program that deserves our continued support."

Since it was created as part of the 1994 Crime Bill, the COPS program has funded the hiring of 118,000 police officers nationally, including 15,801 in California . COPS funds can be used to hire community police officers and purchase new crime-fighting equipment for police departments.

The legislation would provide $1.15 billion to hire 50,000 new police officers, assist police departments in purchasing high-tech crime fighting tools such as cameras in patrol cars and DNA analysis equipment, and help local prosecutors' offices hire community prosecutors who interact closely with the people they serve.

Specifically, the bill provides:

* $600 million per year for more police on the street - up to 50,000 more cops over six years. This money can also be used to retain officers hired under the COPS program, backfill officers dedicated to federal task forces, pay overtime, and reimburse officers for training costs.

* $350 million per year for law enforcement technology to enhance crime fighting efforts. This means better communications systems so officers in different jurisdictions can talk to each other, state of the art investigative tools like DNA analysis, and the means to target crime hot spots through crime mapping.

* $200 million per year for community prosecutors - to expand the community policing concept to engage the whole community in preventing and fighting crime.

* Support for school resource officers in schools and partnerships between schools, law enforcement and the community.

Two Attorney Generals have credited COPS with being a major factor in the dramatic late 90s drop in crime. Former Attorney General Ashcroft called the COPS program "a miraculous sort of success. It's one of those things that Congress hopes will happen when it sets up a program." Just a month ago, current Attorney General Gonzales made the same point: "We put additional police officers on the street and now we have crime at an all-time low for 30 years."

http://feinstein.senate.gov/05releases/r-cops-bill.htm