On January 30th, 2007, I introduced House Resolution 108, a bill to “Support the Weed and Seed and COPS programs.” The Resolution encourages the establishment of more Weed and Seed program sites and urges full funding of requests by a community for help from the Weed and Seed and Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) programs. The bill has been referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary, and I am currently working to bring the bill to the Floor for a full House vote in the near future.

The Community Oriented Police Services (COPS) program is one of the most important in our nation’s fight against crime. Simply put, it makes sense to have more police on the streets of dangerous neighborhoods, which is what COPS grants provide. Across the state of Florida, there has been a dramatic spike in crime, especially violent crimes. Last year in fact, Jacksonville endured the highest homicide rate in the state, with more murders than Miami, Orlando and Tampa combined. Moreover, 2006 for Orlando was not much better, and proved to be one of the cities deadliest. South Florida was not far behind, as Miami-Dade had 25 kids under the age of 18 killed by gunfire.

For every $1 invested in COPS grants, there is a decline of 10 violent crimes and 27 property crimes per 100,000 residents, according to the Department of Justice. I am thrilled to announce that this year’s Continuing Resolution increased funding for the Community Police Initiative. Certainly, this increase was the first step in the right direction towards reversing the drastic cuts made to the program by the Bush administration over the last six years, and the bill I introduced in the House encourages even more funding for this important Justice Department program. I strongly believe that putting more “cops on the beat’ will serve as a sound first step towards addressing our nation’s crime problem.