THE COPS PROGRAM
WHEREAS, following extensive engagement by mayors and police chiefs, the United States
Congress passed the Public Safety Partnership and Community Policing Act, which became law on
October 1, 1994 and created the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS); and
WHEREAS, COPS has made 35,500 grants to nearly 13,000 law enforcement agencies
representing a $9.6 billion taxpayer investment in public safety; and
WHEREAS, COPS grants have been used to fund the hiring and redeployment of more than
116,000 additional officers including over 6,000 School Resource Officers, expand and enhance
crime-fighting technology, support crime prevention, and advance community policing; and
WHEREAS, COPS has trained over 209,000 law enforcement personnel, local government
leaders, and community members in various community policing strategies, produced over 500
publications and resource materials for law enforcement; and
WHEREAS, state and local law enforcement agencies have used $223.5 million in COPS funding
to combat the proliferation of methamphetamine by hiring personnel, purchasing equipment,
cleaning-up labs, and obtaining critical training in meth-related interdiction tactics, investigation,
and prosecution; and
WHEREAS, the COPS Office awarded over $20 million to enhance school safety including
terrorism prevention training for School Resource Officers within weeks after the President signed
the Fiscal Year 2003 appropriations bill; and
WHEREAS, the COPS Office enjoys a unique relationship with state and local law enforcement
and does a superb job of providing vital funding, quickly and efficiently, to local communities, and
is cited by mayors and police chiefs as a model federal agency; and
WHEREAS, a University of Nebraska study, the most comprehensive look ever at the impact of
police presence on crime rates, found that COPS funding is directly linked to the drop in crime
since 1995, preventing tens of thousands of violent crimes and hundreds of thousands of property
crimes; and
WHEREAS, the nation must remain diligent on crime prevention and control efforts to ensure
that past gains are maintained and that crime rates are further reduced, especially as they relate to
youth violence and crime, new and evolving drug-related crime concerns, and in light of the return
of over 600,000 ex-offenders from prisons and jails back into local communities annually--many of
whom will have not received needed drug treatment; and
WHEREAS, after the tragic events of September 11, cities across America used COPS funded
technology and training to improve data and intelligence collection and processing, advance
communication and coordination between public safety agencies, reduce community fear by
delivering timely information, and increase law enforcement's capacity to prevent and respond to
terrorist activity; and
WHEREAS, community policing and the COPS Office can and should play an important role in
efforts to enhance homeland security; and
WHEREAS, for Fiscal Year 2003, Congress approved $60 million for COPS overtime grants,
which has been a long-time priority of the Conference of Mayors; and
WHEREAS, the Administration's Fiscal Year 2004 budget proposes to cut the COPS program by
77 percent, thereby eliminating funding for hiring programs such as the Universal Hiring Program,
COPS MORE, School Resource Officers, and overtime assistance,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the COPS program must be fully maintained in
FY 2004 and beyond through the appropriations process; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that The United States Conference of Mayors calls on Congress
to pass, and the President to sign, legislation to reauthorize the COPS program with increased
flexibility. The new program should provide resources in areas including general hiring, school
resource officers, officer re-deployments, officer retention, overtime, and technology.
©2003 U.S. Conference of Mayors 
