House Appropriators Propose Eliminating COPS Program
July 18, 2011
by Mitchel Herckis
Last week, the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee approved a 2012 Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations bill that would eliminate the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office and virtually all its programs. Further, the spending bill would make drastic cuts to Byrne Justice Assistance Grants (Byrne JAG), the Second Chance Act and Juvenile Justice Grants.
An amendment by Rep. Steve Rothman (D-N.J.) to restore $10 million in funds for the COPS Secure Our Schools program did not pass, as did an amendment by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) that would restore funding for the COPS Office and the COPS Hiring Program (CHP) by reducing funding for the Bureau of Prisons. The committee also rejected another by Rothman that would provide $85 million for COPS Technology Grants.
In addition, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) withdrew an amendment to provide $23 million as a “placeholder” for the COPS Office by reducing each account in the bill by .04 percent, after it encountered significant opposition from members of the committee.
In all, the bill would ultimately cut more than $1.1 billion from state and local government programs at a time when cities are already being forced to make cuts to public safety personnel.
The $1.1 billion in cuts is larger than the overall difference in funding between the FY 2011 and FY 2012 bills for Commerce, Justice, and Science. Between the Commerce, Justice, and Science appropriations bill and the Homeland Security appropriations bill passed by the House last month, state and local public safety agencies stand to lose over $2 billion in federal funding.
NLC has been vocal on the need to maintain key public safety programs.
In May, NLC, along with its allies in state and local law enforcement, sent a letter to appropriators in both chambers urging them to maintain funding for COPS and Byrne JAG. Last week, NLC participated in media events with the House Law Enforcement Caucus to highlight the importance of the COPS Office and other key public safety programs.
The Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations Bill will next be considered on the floor of the House of Representatives. During the bill markup, several members of the committee made it known that they intend to take the fight to restore funding for the COPS Office and its programs to the floor.
Funding for the COPS Office is increasingly important as cities and towns struggle to keep police on the street during these tough fiscal times. Over the last three years, the COPS Office has gotten requests to save almost 8,000 jobs that were recently or about to be lost. The percentage of agencies asking for grants that have reported experiencing sworn layoffs in the past year has more than doubled from 5.65 percent to 11.6 percent, and the percentage of agencies that have reported experiencing sworn officer hiring freezes in the last year jumped from 26 percent to 43 percent.