Pelosi Joins San Francisco Mayor and Police Chief to Announce $3.75 Million Federal COPS Grant

August 27, 2004

San Francisco - House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement today at a press conference with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Police Chief Heather Fong announcing a $3.75 million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS):

“I am pleased to join Mayor Gavin Newsom and Police Chief Heather Fong to announce that the San Francisco Police Department will receive a $3.75 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS, to hire additional police officers. Through their leadership, San Francisco has been awarded one of the largest awards among the 93 grantees.

“This grant will provide 75 percent of the total salary and benefits of each new officer hired under the COPS Universal Hiring Program over three years, up to a maximum of $75,000 per officer. These funds will greatly assist the Mayor’s community-based public safety strategies and help provide additional protection to the citizens of San Francisco.

“I have strongly supported the COPS program since its inception under President Clinton. Since 1994, the COPS program has funded the hiring of more than 118,000 officers by more than 13,000 law enforcement agencies across the country.

“We are all extremely troubled by the wave of violence and loss of life that has plagued our City this year. San Francisco has just endured two violent weekends in the Mission district, and the residents of the Bayview, Visitacion Valley, and the Western Addition have suffered greatly as we continue to lose young lives. The violence must end.

With Mayor Newsom and District Attorney Kamala Harris, I am working to secure urgently needed federal funding to support San Francisco’s violence prevention initiatives. In the spending bills currently being debated in Congress, I have requested funding to complete a citywide integrated violence prevention plan that links departments within the San Francisco government with each other, and with Oakland and neighboring cities to address the epidemic of violent crime in our communities. I am also seeking funds for gun violence prevention efforts run in partnership with community agencies to create long-term safe havens where young men and women can get the mentoring and practical support they need to redirect their lives away from violence into promising futures.

“We must also address the underlying factors that create and promote violence in order to be successful combating it. My Democratic colleagues in Congress and I are committed to making long-term investments in education and economic opportunity to help reduce poverty so that the fury of despair will not lead to violence."

###