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Senator Klobuchar Announces More Federal Support for Local Law Enforcement

Minnesota receives over $11.5 million to help prevent law enforcement job cuts Law enforcement funding was one of Klobuchar's top priorities in Recovery bill

July 28, 2009

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar announced today that Minnesota will receive over $11.5 million in COPS grants for local law enforcement to hire additional officers.  The funding, a component of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will allow financially-squeezed police departments to save or create police officer jobs.  Minneapolis will receive funding for 13 officers and St. Paul will receive funding for 28 officers.  Other municipalities throughout the state were also awarded funds.

“I’ve always believed that the first responsibility of government is to protect the safety of its citizens,” said Klobuchar, who was Hennepin County’s chief prosecutor for eight years before her election to the U.S. Senate.  “This funding will help law enforcement to prevent and reduce crime while providing jobs and much needed resources to local municipalities facing budget shortfalls.”

Klobuchar is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has oversight responsibility for law enforcement issues. 

During consideration of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Klobuchar worked to ensure that the bill included measures to strengthen federal support for local law enforcement, beginning with the Community-Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program, which helps local communities hire extra police officers or pay for overtime to keep more officers on the streets.  She was one of the leading advocates for inclusion of the funding in the bipartisan negotiations of the bill.

Since COPS was created in 1994, Minnesota has received $135 million in funding, providing for over 1,400 additional police officers and sheriff’s deputies and directly benefiting 367 law enforcement agencies statewide.  Thanks to COPS, Minneapolis was able to hire 81 new officers in the mid and late 1990s.  The city then experienced its lowest crime rates in three decades and shed its reputation as “Murderapolis.”

“COPS enjoys bipartisan support and it has a proven record of reducing crime by helping local communities hire extra police officers,” said Klobuchar.

An independent research report last year by the Brookings Institution concluded that COPS contributed to the significant national drop in crime during the 1990s, describing it as “one of the most cost-effective options available for fighting crime.”  The report estimated that each dollar spent on the COPS program generates somewhere between $4 and $8.50 in benefits to society. 

Other municipalities that received COPS grant funding include:

Big Lake Police Department
City Of Brooklyn Center
City Of Columbia Heights
Isanti Police Department
Leech Lake Tribal Council
Mahnomen County
City of Olivia
Park Rapids Police Department
Township of Pike Bay
Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians
Upper Sioux Indian Community
City of Waite Park


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