Orrin Hatch: “look, all of us want more police on the streets. All of us will support that. On the other hand, we have provided about…”

“look, all of us want more police on the streets. All of us will support that. On the other hand, we have provided about half of this money to go for the COPS Program, about half the money this administration represented were sufficient to put 100,000 cops on the street, or at least they have been misrepresenting over the last number of years--in the last year and a half, in my opinion. What we also have is about 50 percent of these funds going in a block grant to the communities so they can make their own determination as to what is best for their communities, how best to do it. We provided prohibitions in here so the community cannot just have exotic police approaches, that they have to use funds for the very best law enforcement needs, in the best interests of the community. To me, that makes sense. We help the COPS Program even more than was represented we would do. We help the communities to have a flexibility to be able to do what is best for their communities. If they do not need police personnel, they can then use the money for other law enforcement needs that are very important for the community. In the process, everybody wins. I think what we have to do one of these days, though, is face the music around here in the District of Columbia. I believe we have in some respects some very decent people in that police force, but they are not funded properly. They are not treated properly. We have crime in the streets here in the greatest city in the world.”