Political Quotes

“authority for the community policing program has expired, and I rise today to introduce legislation to extend that hugely successful program for another six years. We created this program in 1994 as part of that year's crime bill. The COPS program has worked better than any of us could have hoped. Crime has gone down every year since the program has been in existence. We have invested over $7.5 billion to make our streets safer. 115,000 officers will be funded by the end of this fiscal year. 73,600 of those officers are on the beat today, over 200 of them in my own state of Delaware. Grants have been issued to more than 12,400 law enforcement agencies. Big cities and small towns have benefitted, and more than 82 percent of all COPS grants have gone to departments serving populations of 50,000 or less. Community policing methods are taking hold across the country. A recent Justice Department study revealed that the number of community police officers nationwide increased by 400 percent between 1997 and 1999. Schools are benefitting: by the end of this fiscal year COPS will have funded almost 5,000 school resource officers. These are specially trained officers who work in schools to prevent crimes before they occur, mentor students, and assist school administrators in creating a safe learning environment. Since COPS started funding school resource officers, their numbers across the country have shot up more than 40 percent.”