Ed Somers
February 12, 2007

“As was done under the 1994 Crime Bill, mayors are calling for a federal trust fund to provide flexible resources for the deployment of law enforcement personnel, support local innovations, fight domestic violence, and fund technology that helps fight crime.” This is the call to action contained in the new Conference of Mayors’ 10-Point Plan related to crime reduction, and was the focus of the Criminal and Social Justice Committee meeting January 24, led by Rochester (NY) Mayor Robert Duffy.

Senator Joe Biden (DE) has introduced a $10 billion trust fund bill (S. 345) that would provide $10 billion over five years to hire 50,000 new local police officers, 1,000 new FBI agents, and fund the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. This bill, and one to reauthorize the COPS program (S. 368), were discussed with the mayors by Biden’s counsel Nelson Peacock, and the Senator briefed the mayors during a plenary session later that day.

The Committee was also joined by Representative Bobby Scott (VA), new Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, who told them that the nation must decide if it “wants to reduce crime, or play politics.” He said that Congress must focus on initiatives that prevent crime and provide positive alternatives — especially for youths — instead of issues such as mandatory minimum sentences, the death penalty, and trying more juveniles as adults.

Scott said he would include mayors in hearings he will be holding on crime, and will work with them to help restore funding for key programs like COPS and the crime block grant.

Chuck Wexler, Executive Director of the Police Executive Research Forum, updated the mayors on the continuing increase in violent crime rates in many cities across the country, and said that while murder rates are up, robbery is the number one violent crime increasing in the United States.

Gene Voegtlin with International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP)) said that local police officer levels are lower than a decade ago, and that funding for key programs must be restored. IACP is also calling for a new federal commission to study the issue of crime, and for a program to help transition retiring military troops to law enforcement.

The last agenda discussion was led by St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay regarding the collection and use of crime statistics. Slay shared his concerns that crime statistics are not collected in a uniform manner, and then are released by private groups in a way that often misstate the true nature of the crime problem in cities. Slay and Duffy agreed to reach out to the FBI ­— which collects the data — to see if the process can be improved.