Dear Mayor:

In March, in our Nation’s Capitol, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved legislation that would put an additional 50,000 police officers in neighborhoods and communities across America.

The COPS [Community Oriented Policing Services] program has been hailed as a proven success. Recent studies show that COPS grants played a critical role in the crime drop of the ’90s. The President’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2008 would cut federal assistance to state and local law enforcement by more than half. However, the Senate Budget Committee approved a resolution last week that restored this funding.

In meetings with the Committee Chair (Senator Joseph Biden) and members of his senior staff, National League of Cities (NLC) President Bart Peterson, Mayor of Indianapolis, urged Congress to continue to support this important program. NLC has declared public safety as a legislative and policy priority for this year, particularly due to the recent surge in violent crime in larger municipalities and the need to deal with the root causes of crime such as poverty and drugs.

On March 15, the Senate Judiciary Committee reported to the full Senate S-368, the COPS Improvements Act of 2007, as well as S-231, to authorize the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program at fiscal year 2006 levels through 2012. S-368 would provide $1.15 billion to continue the COPS program, which was created through the 1994 Crime Bill, and funding for the COPS School Resource Officer program, which is aimed at combating violence in schools. The bill will fund the COPS program through 2011, authorizing the hiring of 50,000 new police officers; assistance for police departments to purchase high-tech crime fighting tools such as cameras in patrol cars and DNA analysis equipment; and funding for community prosecutors.

S-231, the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program bill would provide grants for criminal justice enforcement to focus on violent crime and serious offenders. The bill would authorize almost $1.1 billion annually through fiscal 2012.

Please contact your Congressman and Senators Lautenberg and Menendez in support of these two bills. For more information, call Jon Moran at 609-695-3481, ext. 121.

SAMPLE RESOLUTION (WORD I PDF)

Very truly yours,

                                                                        William G. Dressel, Jr.
                                                                        Executive Director