By Laura DeKoven Waxman
August 1, 2011

The mayors attending the Conference of Mayors Summer Leadership Meeting in Los Angeles called on Congress to provide at least current funding for the COPS hiring grants next year. Expressing concern that the bill reported out of the House Appropriations Committee would eliminate the COPS Office and its programs entirely, the mayors told members of the House and Senate that “at a time when cities are being forced to lay off police officers, these cuts to such a critical source of support for local police departments are unconscionable.”

The mayors co'signed letters which are being sent to every member of the House and Senate. In addition to calling for funding of the COPS program, the letter points out, “Compounding the proposed cut in COPS funding are cuts and eliminations proposed for other programs which provide critical assistance to cities. Among those affected are Byrne Justice Assistance Grants and the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, and the mayors urge Congress to fund them at least this year’s level as well.”

The mayors reported to Congress on the increase in police department layoffs and hiring freezes among recent COPS grant applicants: “Among those departments which have applied for COPS grants in recent years, 11.6 percent have had to lay off sworn officers this year, up from 5.65 percent one year ago. In addition, 43 percent of these departments have had to impose hiring freezes on sworn officer positions, up from 26 percent one year ago. Over the last three years, the COPS Office has gotten requests to save almost 8,000 sworn positions that either had recently been cut or were about to be cut.”

They also included information on the shortfall in COPS funds available to meet current police department demand for this funding: “In the latest of round of COPS grants, the Office received $2 billion in requests for just over 9,000 officers. If the agencies which applied for these funds had not had to limit their funding requests to 50 officers, the demand would have been much greater: $5.3 billion in requests for 22,194 officers. With the funding available this year, the COPS Office expects to make grants for 1,000 to 1,200 officers to approximately 400 departments.” The mayors pointed out that, “These are real jobs for real people who work every day to protect our cities and our residents.”

Finally, the mayors highlighted the disproportionate nature of the House Commerce, Justice, Science appropriations bill’s 39 percent cut to state and local law enforcement programs, noting that the $1.1 billion reduction they face amounts to more than the total cut to the U.S. Department of Justice. The mayors told Congress that while they understand the severe fiscal constraints facing the Committee, they are confident that needed funding reductions could be spread more equitably across the Commerce, Justice, Science spending bill.