Sanford Bishop: “while I believe this bill is deficient for a number of reasons, I want to specifically focus on what I consider to be a…”

“while I believe this bill is deficient for a number of reasons, I want to specifically focus on what I consider to be a woefully inadequate level of funding for the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program. At a time when the country is gaining the upper hand in our long-fought war against crime, the bill we are considering slashes the Administration's request for COPS funding by more than half, eliminating all funding for community prosecutors, reducing funding to help provide police with updated technology, and failing to provide any increase for community-based crime prevent programs. This is hardly a step forward. In fact, it is a step backward. The fact is, the COPS program works. I have seen the impact it has had in the area of middle and southwest Georgia that I have the privilege of representing, where COPS grants have provided communities $12.5 million to help employ 258 additional police officers. Predictably, the result of putting more police on the streets has been more arrests and less crime. If you ask why the country's crime rate has dramatically declined over the past few years, just ask our police officers and prosecutors and others on the front lines of the war against crime. They will tell you that a number of factors have contributed. But they will also tell you that the ``COPS'' program has been one of the biggest factors of all.…”