Following Casey Effort, Budget Agreement Increases COPS Hiring Program Funding by $25M

Washington, DC- Today, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) announced that the budget agreement, which passed both the Senate and the House this week, increases funding for the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Hiring program by $25 million over the previous fiscal year. In the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting Senator Casey called for an increase to the COPS program, which helps local police departments hire and retain officers. Senator Casey weighed in with Vice President Biden and key congressional committees to push for additional resources.  Also in the budget agreement is a $2.5 million increase for the Sexual Assault Services Program (SASP) and an $500,000 increase for the State and Local Law Enforcement-Regional Information Sharing Systems.

“This increased investment has the potential to help communities across Pennsylvania hire and retain police officers,” Senator Casey said. “There’s much more that can be done to ensure municipalities in Pennsylvania have the resources they need to promote public safety, but this increase is a step in the right direction.”

The SASP Formula Grant Program was created by the Violence Against Women Act of 2005 and is the first federal funding stream solely dedicated to helping survivors heal from sexual assault trauma by funding organizations that provide direct services to them. Some of these services include:

• Rape crisis centers
• 24-hour sexual assault hotlines
• Crisis intervention services
• Being with victims when the seek medical care or legal services
• Advocacy
• Short-term individual and group support counseling

Law enforcement information sharing has expanded significantly across all levels of government, improving law enforcement's ability to detect, prevent, and respond to acts of terrorism. The sharing of law enforcement information is not a single integrated process. Rather, it cuts across business processes in multiple communities and at all levels of government. But these seemingly unrelated efforts share many features in common. A fundamental component of effective enterprise-wide information sharing, for example, is the use of information systems that regularly capture relevant data and make it broadly available to authorized users in a timely and secure manner. Although the focus of the ISE is terrorism-related information, many of the techniques used to improve sharing of terrorism information are also applicable to other types of crimes and vice versa. Criminal history records, law enforcement incident reports, records of judicial actions and decisions, and watch lists of known and suspected terrorists are all essential sources of vital data that provide accurate, timely, and complete information to law enforcement officers across the country.

Casey Record on Law Enforcement Funding

• In March 2012, Senator Casey sent a letter to members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, urging full funding in Fiscal Year 2013 for the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Hiring Program, the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grants (JAG) Program, and the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Program.  He followed that letter with one to Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, calling for the same full funding for those programs in the final FY 2013 appropriations legislation.
• In 2011, in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner and House Appropriations Committee Chairman Harold Rogers, Senator Casey urged the reconsideration of cuts to State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance and the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program for the remainder of fiscal year 2011. 
• Senator Casey has been a strong supporter of funding increases for the COPS program and fought efforts to eliminate the program.  Senator Casey has cosponsored the COPS Improvements Act which would reauthorize the COPS program. 
• To provide more resources to local law enforcement, Senator Casey has been a strong advocate for increased funding for the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program that provides flexible grants for law enforcement to prevent, fight and prosecute crime.  Senator Casey has urged the Senate Appropriations Committee to increase funding for the program and he has voted in favor of funding increases on the Senate floor.  Senator Casey also fought past efforts to eliminate funding for the successful Byrne grant program.

The full text of Casey’s letter to U.S. Senate leadership urging full funding for these programs can be seen below:

Dear Senators Reid and McConnell:

As the Senate prepares its appropriations bills for the 2013 fiscal year, I write to urge you to support full funding of programs vitally important to public safety in Pennsylvania and across the United States, the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Hiring Program, the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grants (JAG) Program, and the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Program.  I am particularly concerned that proposals in the House of Representatives’ budget to reduce funding for these efforts is misguided and risks undermining years of success in reducing crime and protecting local law enforcement.

The COPS Hiring Program has proven to be an effective tool in providing state and local law enforcement with resources and equipment necessary to both fight and prevent crime.  Since its inception, the COPS program has hired, rehired, or retained more than 120,000 community police officers, including 3,651 in my home state of Pennsylvania.  Local chiefs of police, sheriffs and other law enforcement leaders agree that the COPS Hiring Program has played an essential role in crime reduction.  

While the COPS Hiring Program has helped law enforcement agencies maintain strong forces in the face of strained budgets, the Byrne/JAG Program spurs innovation and efficiency across the criminal justice system.  Byrne/JAG funds are used to test and measure innovative methods to reduce crime, combat drug and gang violence, reduce recidivism, and implement drug treatment, technology and witness programs.  Importantly, this funding is also flexible and can be used in a wide variety of capacities to address local needs for equipment and resources.

These programs are critical to officer safety.  New FBI data released this week revealed a 25 percent increase in police officers killed by perpetrators in 2011, a disturbing trend that further illustrates the urgency in protecting programs like the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Program.   These grants allow local communities to purchase life-saving bullet-proof vests and provided the City of Philadelphia alone with funding for 2,025 bulletproof vests in 2011.  Administered through the Office of Justice Programs, local jurisdictions apply for the funding, which is administered as a federal matching grant covering 50 percent of the cost of the vests.

I urge you to reject proposals to cut critically needed programs to keep our neighborhoods safe and support full funding of the President’s budget request for the COPS Hiring Program, Byrne/JAG and the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Program.  Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Robert P. Casey, Jr.

United States Senator

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