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Klobuchar Backs Additional Resources for COPS Program

Amendment sponsored by Klobuchar adds $551 million to Community Oriented Policing Services, with support of Mayor Rybak

March 12, 2008

Washington, D.C. – Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) backed legislation that would give police departments in Minnesota and across the nation the resources they need to keep communities safe.  Klobuchar joined forces with Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) to boost funding for the successful Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program by $551 million in an amendment to the FY2009 Budget Bill currently being considered in the Senate. 

“COPS is a successful program with a proven record of reducing crime by helping local police departments put more officers on the street to fight crime,” said Klobuchar.  “As chief prosecutor for Minnesota’s largest county, I saw for myself what a difference it makes when law enforcement officers can actually create a partnership with the community in Minnesota.  This bill invests directly in our local law enforcement agencies, supporting proven programs that make a real impact.”

Klobuchar’s efforts to increase COPS funding was lauded by Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, chair of the Mayors and Police Chiefs Task Force on public safety for the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

“Keeping America’s streets and neighborhoods safe is a top priority for America’s mayors,” Mayor Rybak said. “As cities across America fight rising crime, it is essential that the federal government step up to help fund local public safety. These funds will help to reverse the harmful state and federal budget cuts in recent years that lacerated crime enforcement and prevention programs in our cities. With the federal government as a partner, we are much better able to keep our cities safe and prosperous.”

Restoring funding for local law enforcement programs is a top priority for the U.S. Conference of Mayors, as Mayor Rybak and mayors across the country work to create a national agenda against youth violence that would include federal and state as well as local recommendations to stem youth violence.

Since it was created in 1994, the COPS program has funded 118,000 officers in more than 12,000 communities nationwide.  Researchers credit it as a significant factor in the national decline in violent crime that began in the 1990s.  If passed, the amendment would nearly double the funding for the COPS program to a total of $1.15 billion.

Klobuchar is a co-sponsor of the COPS Improvements Act and a bill to authorize the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program at fiscal year 2006 levels through 2012. The program allows states and local governments to support a broad range of activities to prevent and control crime.

The additional funding would be paid for by other offsets in the Budget Bill.