Schiff Amendment Would Restore Funding for Community Oriented Policing Services
Washington, DC –Today, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) offered an amendment to the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations bill for FY2012 to restore $600 million to the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) office at the Department of Justice (DOJ) for hiring grants. COPS hiring grants assist police departments large and small with the costs of hiring new police officers.
“Since its creation in 1994, COPS hiring programs have helped put an additional 100,000 police officers on the streets and in neighborhoods – it’s not a coincidence that we’ve seen a nationwide decrease in violent crime over that period,” Rep. Schiff said. “We have to find a way to maintain our support for local law enforcement, and that’s what my amendment would do. Eliminating COPS in this climate will have a devastating impact on our police departments and their ability to keep our communities safe.”
The amendment would fund COPS by reducing the salaries and expenses account of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) by 10 percent. While this figure represents a major cut, the BOP is also one of very few agencies in the underlying bill that received anything approaching its request.
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