“In order to keep our communities safe and secure, we need to provide our local law enforcement agencies with the ability to put more officers on the streets. We need to provide access to technology that will help them fight crime,” said Visclosky. “The COPS program provides these critical services to police agencies throughout Northwest Indiana and the nation.”

The COPS program has been one of the most successful law enforcement programs in the nation’s history.  To date the program has put almost 120,000 more officers on the street nationwide, including 267 in Indiana’s First Congressional District. 

The COPS Improvement Act, passed today by the House of Representatives, will re-energize the COPS program nationwide. The officer-hiring portion of COPS has seen funding go from over $1 billion a year near the end of the Clinton administration, to zero under President Bush. Additional facts on the program’s impact on Northwest Indiana include:

·        Since 1994, the COPS program has helped law enforcement in Indiana’s First Congressional District to put 267 cops on the beat. With passage of the COPS Improvement Act, an additional 114 officers will likely be hired over the course of the next six years.

·        Since 1994, COPS has invested $21,069,985 in Indiana’s First Congressional District. With passage of the COPS Improvement Act, Northwest Indiana will likely receive an additional $6,428,131 over the course of the next six years.

·        Since 1994, the COPS program has enabled law enforcement agencies to employ 30 more school resource officers, who keep our children safe at school, in the First Congressional District.  With passage of the COPS Improvement Act, an additional 13 school resource officers will likely be hired over the course of the next six years.

·        Since 1994, the COPS program has sent $4,832,220 to Northwest Indiana to purchase technology and training that helps cops get out from behind their desks an out on patrol.  With passage of the COPS Improvement Act, an additional $1,474,237 in technology grants will likely go to the First Congressional District.

Created in 1994 to put more police officers on the streets, the COPS program has been enormously successful.  Nationally, COPS has provided $9 billion to hire 117,000 police officers. 

According to a GAO study, between 1998 and 2000, COPS grants were responsible for reducing crimes by about 200,000 to 225,000 crimes – one third of which were violent.   In 1998, COPS grants were responsible for an 8% decrease in crimes – and a 13% drop in violent crimes.

Despite its success, last year President Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress eliminated funding to hire much-needed officers.  Visclosky is pleased to see the funding restored. “Protecting our communities and giving law enforcement every opportunity to successfully protect the public is an investment that must be made,” said Visclosky.

Earlier this year, the Police Executive Research Forum, a prominent law enforcement association, released a report which found that violent crimes rose by double digit percentages over the last two years.  Among the cities surveyed, since 2005, 71% had an increase in homicides, 80% saw robberies rise and 67% reported an increase in aggravated assaults with guns.

The study is backed by FBI statistics released last December which show that crime is growing in the United States for the first time since the early 1990s.  During the first six months of 2006, homicides, assaults and other violent offenses grew by 4%, and robberies, which are often interpreted as a precursor to more serious crime, jumped by 10% nationwide.

This legislation has been endorsed by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Sheriffs Association, the Fraternal Order of Police, the National Association of Police Organizations, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and the National League of Cities.