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COPS Improvements Act Of 2007

Floor Speech

Date: May 15, 2007
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Criminal Justice


COPS IMPROVEMENTS ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - May 15, 2007)

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Mr. RAMSTAD. Mr. Speaker, as co-chair of the Congressional Law Enforcement Caucus and proud cosponsor of H.R. 1700, the COPS Improvement Act, I rise to urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.

Since its creation in the 1994 Crime Bill, the COPS program has been a key component of the Federal effort to keep our communities safe. The program has been widely hailed as a success. It has supported the hiring of over 100,000 officers and contributed to a nationwide decrease in violent crime in the 1990s.

H.R. 1700 makes several improvements to the program to increase public safety across the country. It reauthorizes the COPS hiring program to help put 50,000 new police on the beat in our communities, provides $350 million a year for State and local agencies to develop new technologies for crime prevention and police training and provides $200 million a year for community-based prosecution programs.

In my home state of Minnesota, I've seen, firsthand, the importance of the COPS program to local police in reducing crime and improving public safety.

The COPS program has been an invaluable resource to state and local law enforcement agencies for hiring, technology and school safety grants, and has been critical to providing personnel, equipment, training and technical assistance in the war on drugs and homeland security.

We must never forget our cops are on the front lines--in the war on crime, fighting drug dealers and protecting our homeland.

As Chris Matthews of MSNBC said after the attacks of September 11: ``Before the attacks on our homeland, America's heroes were the rich and famous. Since Sept. 11, America's heroes are the cops and firefighters. And that's good for America.''

Today, America's heroes are counting on us. Congress owes it to these brave men and women who put their lives on the line every day they put on the badge. Our nation's law enforcement officers need all the tools Congress can provide. It's time to honor the sacrifices made by our Nation's law enforcement community and give our Nation's finest the support they need.

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