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$25,000 in Grant Funding to Help 'Secure Our Schools'
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
"We must safeguard our schools from crime and violence if our children are to learn and succeed to their potential," said Hoyer. "This grant will help local officials in Charles County and in the City of Hyattsville ensure schools are the safe learning environments that every child deserves.
"COPS has been and continues to be a critical means by which the federal government can provide desperately needed resources to local law enforcement, hiring new police officers, purchasing new technologies, hiring school resource officers to protect our children at school, and building better relationships between law enforcement and our communities. Congress must maintain its commitment to a program that has delivered so much to our local law enforcement," Hoyer added.
Secure Our Schools is one of the several COPS initiatives to enhance school safety and provides up to 50 percent of the total cost for local law enforcement agencies to partner with schools for the purchase of crime prevention equipment, staff and student training, and other measures that will provide a significant improvement in security. COPS has provided $746.9 million to state and local law enforcement agencies to hire and train more than 6,500 school resource officers.
Congressman Hoyer is a member of the Congressional Law Enforcement Caucus, and has been a strong proponent of the Community Oriented Policing (COPS) program since its creation in 1994 because of the overwhelming evidence in his district, and across the country, illustrating that it is a program that works and is worthy of receiving federal support - despite the fact that it is a program that President Bush has repeatedly attempted to eliminate.
Since 1994, $56,637,620 in COPS grants have been awarded to law enforcement agencies in the 5th District of Maryland. COPS grants have funded 908 additional police officers and sheriffs deputies to engage in community policing activities; 18 local and state law enforcement agencies have directly benefited from funding made available through COPS; $7,770,158 has been awarded to add 63 school resource officers to improve safety for students, teachers, and administrators in primary and secondary schools throughout the 5th District; and $15,876,2590 has been awarded for crime-fighting technologies. This funding has allowed officers to spend more time on the streets of the 5th District of Maryland fighting and preventing crime through time-saving technology, information-sharing systems, and improved communications equipment.
In his 2005 budget request, President Bush proposed an 87 percent cut in COPS funding, $712 million below the fiscal year 2004 enacted level which would have eliminated the hiring grant, the most crucial and effective part of the COPS program. Charles County has benefited by hiring 70 officers and the City of Hyattsville has hired 5 officers since 1994 thanks to COPS hiring grants they have received.
"I will continue to work this year to again restore this funding and am hopeful that the Congress will remain committed to the COPS program," Hoyer concluded.
For additional information about COPS Secure Our Schools program, and to view a list of municipalities that received grants, visit COPS website at www.cops.usdoj.gov.
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