By Laura DeKoven Waxman
July 4, 2011

“The fiscal crisis facing cities today is the most significant I’ve seen in 37 years in law enforcement,” COPS Office Director Bernard Melekian told the Conference of Mayors Criminal and Social Justice Committee during its June 18 meeting. “I’ve never seen layoffs and closures like today.”

Melekian commented that as a result of the current fiscal situation in cities, “The delivery of police services will change in several fundamental ways.” While responses to life-threatening situations won’t change, policing practices relating to quality of life, like community policing and crime prevention, and non-emergency calls will, he suggested. Melekian described some of the specific changes that are likely, including greater reliance on technology, greater utilization of civilians, reprioritization of non-emergency calls for service, and regionalization and/or consolidation of specific police functions, like SWAT teams and internal affairs units.

Melekian thanked the Committee for the resolution in support of the COPS program, which was introduced by Elizabeth (NJ) Mayor J. Christian Bollwage and was passed shortly before he spoke, and said that the Conference of Mayors is an “incredible voice of support, and we don’t take it for granted.”

Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence President Paul Helmke, who is a former mayor of Fort Wayne, a past president of the Conference of Mayors, and past Chair of the Criminal and Social Justice Committee, briefed the mayors on prospects for gun safety legislation in the wake of the tragic January 8 shootings in Tucson. Talking about the weak gun laws in the United States, he commented that, “The shooter didn’t violate a single law until he pulled the trigger.” He was not a prohibited purchaser, there are no limits on magazine size, and Arizona is among the states that allow people to carry concealed weapons.

Helmke described legislation pending in Congress that would make it harder for criminals to get guns and wreak the kind of devastation which occurred in Tucson. The Brady Campaign’s highest priority is H.R. 308, a bill that would reinstate the ban on large capacity magazines. The Conference of Mayors adopted a resolution in support of the bill during its Winter Meeting in January. Helmke indicated that the bill currently has 108 cosponsors, but that number needs to double, and asked the mayors to contact their representatives and urge them to support it.

He also described bills that would strengthen the background check system and close the gun show loophole (which enables purchasers to avoid the background check system when they purchase weapons at gun shows from individuals who are not federally licensed gun dealers. Conference policy supports these efforts as well.

During the session, which was chaired by Des Moines Mayor T.M. Franklin Cownie, Committee members reported out 15 resolutions covering a broad range of issues.

• Improving Public Safety Communications

• Leveraging Local Resources through the Grant Process

• Comprehensive Gang Violence Prevention Legislation

• Reducing and Responding to Domestic Violence

• Regarding Human Trafficking

• In Support of the National Criminal Justice Commission Act Of 2011

• The Fire Service Vulnerability Assessment Project

• In Support Of President Obama’s 2011 Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Plan

• Eliminating Contraband Tobacco Sales

• Supporting And Urging The Passage Of The Development Relief And Education For Alien Minors (DREAM) Act

• Comprehensive Immigration Reform as a Means to Strengthen Our Economy, Global Competitiveness, and Security

• Comprehensive Immigration Reform to Allow the Redesignation of Haitian Temporary Status Protection Applicants to Resident Status and the Suspension of Removal of Haitian Nationals

• Temporary Protected Status for Haitian Nationals Entering the United States between January 13, 2010 and December 31, 2010 and Suspension of Removal of Haitian Nationals

• Homeland Security Local Government Funding

• The COPS Program