Congressman Enyart Protects COPS Funding

Press Release

U.S. Congressman Bill Enyart this week successfully co-sponsored a bipartisan amendment to restore critical community policing funds. The COPS amendment restores funding to the FY2015 Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill. Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS program, utilizes federal funding for local municipal and county police departments to hire additional officers.

"Community police agencies are the backbone of our law enforcement system," said Enyart. "They are the first responders to critical situations across the country, and they deserve to have appropriate funding for an adequate number of officers."

The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed the amendment introduced by Congressmen Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ) and Dave Reichert (R-WA), co-chairs of the Congressional Law Enforcement Caucus, along with Enyart and six other members of Congress.

Enyart's amendment restored $110 million in funding for the COPS hiring grant program, designed to put more local officers on the street. The full funding equals $180 million for the national program.

"Virtually every municipal police department and county sheriff's department in Southern Illinois has benefitted from this program at one time or another in its 20 year history," said Enyart.

"The COPS grant has built a bridge between the police and the community," said St. Clair County Sheriff Rick Watson. "It was a COPS grant that developed the neighborhood watch program in the Ogles Neighborhood of Belleville. Without this grant, we'd be fighting crime with one hand tied behind our back."

The amendment successfully passed by voice vote on Wednesday night, and has been added to the full Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill, which was approved by a large margin in the U.S. House late Thursday.

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