(Clinton COPS program phased out by Bush, firing) 118,000 new officers

[papau]

Federal, local cuts pull cops off streets A federal program paid for 118,000 new officers, but it's being phased out just as cities are in need

By Kevin Johnson USA TODAY

MINNEAPOLIS -- The federal program that added more than 100,000 cops to local police forces and helped to cut crime to historically low rates during the past decade is being rolled back because local governments can't afford to keep many of the officers on the street.

The Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program was a hallmark of the Clinton administration, providing more than $8 billion in grants to saturate crime-plagued areas with officers and forging unprecedented ties between cops and neighborhood patrols. From New York to Los Angeles, ''community policing'' became a symbol of America's frustration with the high crime rates of the early 1990s -- and of governments' big spending in a soaring economy.
But now budgets are leaner, and law enforcement analysts say that the largest federally funded buildup of local police in U.S. history is being washed away by cutbacks and retirements.

The COPS program, which is being phased out by the federal government, has provided grants to pay for all or part of entry-level officers' salaries during their first three years of work. Agencies that received COPS grants were required to keep the officers for a fourth year. Now, many cash-strapped police departments that have met their obligation to the grants program are trimming their ranks to meet increasingly tight local budgets. <snip>

http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20031202/5722772s.htm

[MrBenchley]

1. Remember

it was a constant refrain during the Clinton years from Limbaugh, Faux Nutcase Noise, the Washington Times, and all the other right wing slimebags that this program didn't really add 100,000 cops......

[zbdent]

2. And the $8 billion in grants sure doesn't sound like

an "unfunded mandate" that they were screaming about also.

I remember some screams about "how will the communities pay for it???" going on about that also.

[Withergyld]

3. It was supposed to end in 2001

From the article:
"The COPS program was scheduled to end in 2001, when its initial allotment of money had been distributed. But it has survived the change in administration on much more modest budgets, mostly because of its popularity with the powerful law enforcement lobby."
another tid bit:
"* In Minneapolis, $6 million in COPS grants allowed the police department to hire 81 cops and boost the city's number of officers to 938 by 1997. But officials have had to cut 140 positions since then -- including 38 this year. Officers are being shifted from neighborhoods to handle emergency calls; robberies are up by 20% this year, and burglaries are up 3%. "

[SlavesandBulldozers]

4. well Ill agree with Bush on this one

i dont like to agree with Bush, and I virtually never have. But we don't need more pigs on the streets, in fact, the less the better.

[1a2b3c]

5. Amen to that

I got pulled over yesterday on my way home from work. No reason given he only asked what i was doing in his state (i have out of state plates still) and a bunch of questions about what i had been doing that day.(where my job was, who owned the house, how did i get the job) Then of course came the car search. It wasnt too bad though, i didnt have to stand out in the cold. When he asked if he could search the trunk i popped it open, he knew then that i didnt have anything to hide and hurried the process up. Didnt even search the front of the car. Lovely to be in Kansas again. If my drivers license wasnt suspended i wouldnt have been so cooperative.