By Ed Somers
February 9, 2004

Under the leadership of Gary Mayor Scott L. King, the Mayors and Police Chiefs Task Force discussed continuing reductions in key law enforcement programs and gun safety issues before Congress during a January 21 meeting.

As Mayor King said in his opening remarks, in FY 2004 the COPS program was cut by 24 percent to $487 million, and the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant was cut by more than 44 percent down to $225 million.

The task force was joined by a number of law enforcement experts including Dan Rosenblatt, Executive Director of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and Chuck Wexler, Executive Director of the Police Executive Research Forum. Both of these leaders expressed serious concern that the Administration's FY 2005 budget proposal could propose further reductions for next year. They both stressed that while homeland security funding is important, it should not come at the expense of front-line law enforcement troops or the continuing fight against crime.

The mayors and police executives agreed that a stronger and more coordinate advocacy effort is needed to stem the continuing reductions in funding.

The task force was also joined by Joshua Horwitz, Executive Director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence and Jim Kessler from Americans for Gun Safety. The discussion on gun safety focused on a legislative proposal to immunize gun manufacturers and dealers from lawsuits, including those brought by a number of cities. The Conference of Mayors has strong policy against this legislation, which has passed in the House of Representatives and has 56 co-sponsors in the Senate.

This legislation is expected to be on the Senate floor early in 2004, and efforts are underway to try and block its passage. In addition, gun safety advocates in the Senate will try and attach a number of key proposals to the bill if it cannot be blocked including bi-partisan bills to extend the assault weapon ban and to close the gun'show loophole.