WASHINGTON – The Brookings Institution has published a policy briefing called “MORE COPS,” which claims the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program contributed to the significant drop in crime that occurred in the mid- and late-1990s.
The report’s authors, Yale economist John Donohue, III and Georgetown economist Jens Ludwig, also say the program is one of the most cost-effective options for fighting crime. The policy briefing states that each $1.4 billion invested in the COPS program is likely to generate a benefit to society from $6 billion to $12 billion.
According to Donohue and Ludwig, COPS distributed nearly $1 billion in hiring grants to state and local police in each fiscal year from 1995 to 1999. However, the amount of COPS funding allocated to helping state and local departments hire more police has declined dramatically over the past several years. The report claims this has led to the recent increase in crime. Preliminary UCR data indicate that violent crime for January 2006 through June 2006 was up 3.7 percent when compared to its reported level for the first half of 2005. Compared to 2004, 2005 also saw a rise in the rate of violent crime.
Legislation is being introduced in Congress to restore and fully fund COPS. U.S. Senator Joseph Biden, Jr. (D-DE), the author of the 1994 Crime Bill, which put 100,000 new cops on the streets, said in a released statement, “There can be no doubt that the COPS program was a success. In 1994, we had historically high rates of violent crimes. Because we put more cops on the streets, we were able to reduce these crimes to the lowest levels in a generation.”
Biden recently introduced legislation to hire 50,000 new cops nationwide. His legislation would restore COPS and includes funding for the School Resource Officer (SRO) program, which is aimed at combating violence in schools.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors issued a statement expressing its support for Congress’ proposed increase in COPS funding and block grants. Trenton, N.J., Mayor Douglas Palmer, president of the conference says, “According to the latest statistics gathered by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), an organization we work with on law enforcement priorities, 56 policing agencies across the nation over a 2-year period starting on Jan. 1, 2005 reported:
- Total homicides were 10.21-percent higher
- Robberies increased 12.27 percent
- Aggravated assaults increased 3.12 percent
- Aggravated assaults with a firearm increased by almost 10 percent.”
The Brookings Institution policy briefing can be found online at http://www.brookings.edu/comm/policybriefs/pb158.htm.
