Albio Sires: “our most important job as lawmakers is to ensure the safety of the American people. Our local law enforcement officers…”

“our most important job as lawmakers is to ensure the safety of the American people. Our local law enforcement officers serve communities across this Nation as the first line of defense against crime. The number of police on our streets matters for the security of every city in this Nation, and we have a responsibility to ensure that these officers are in place. That is why Congress worked with President Clinton in the 1990s to create the COPS program. Through this program, more than 100,000 cops were hired, putting police in every neighborhood in our Nation. But when President Bush came to office, he eliminated the COPS program, with no objections from the old Republican rubber-stamp Congress. As a result, crime substantially increased over the last decade. Madam Speaker, today this Congress has an opportunity to reverse these troubling trends by passing the COPS Improvement Act. This legislation would allow communities to hire 50,000 police officers over the next 6 years so we can better protect our communities.”