Text 20505, 271 rader
Skriven 2006-05-28 11:48:48 av John Hull (1:123/789.0)
Kommentar till text 20503 av LEE LOFASO (1:123/140)
Ärende: Iraq News
=================
Next time you feel froggy and want to jump, better look to see if you're gonna
land in gator shit - like you did on this one.
The following is from the Heritage Foundation. It is the Executive Summary of
the report they did on the COPS program, using data and figures from the DOJ,
and the FBI. I have the full report in PDF format if anyone wants it.
=====================
Research: Crime
The Facts About COPS: A Performance Overview of the Community Oriented Policing
Services Program
by Gareth Davis, David B. Muhlhausen, Dexter Ingram, and Ralph A. Rector, Ph.D.
Executive Summary #00-10
Executive Summary
One of President Bill Clinton's priorities when taking office was to put
100,000 additional police officers on America's streets. To achieve this goal,
on September 13, 1994, he signed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement
Act (P.L. 103-322), which authorized the establishment of the Office of
Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) within the U.S. Department of
Justice. This program became the federal government's most significant criminal
justice initiative throughout the 1990s. Designed to support state and local
community policing activities to reduce crime, the program developed into a set
of federal grants that cost American taxpayers $7.5 billion by the end of
fiscal year (FY) 2000.1 If COPS has actually achieved its goal of deploying
100,000 more police, then one in every six state and local police officers
today is federally funded.
According to the Justice Department, the COPS program reached an important
milestone on May 12, 1999, "funding the 100,000th officer ahead of schedule and
under budget."2 On August 22, 2000, COPS officials stated that, "[t]o date, the
COPS program has funded more than 105,000 community policing officers.
President Clinton has proposed continuing the COPS program for an additional
five years to add up to 50,000 more community policing officers to local
communities."3
Are these estimates valid? And if it is indeed the case that 100,000 additional
police officers are now on the street, is it not also reasonable for
policymakers, community leaders, and taxpayers to ask where these officers have
been placed? To evaluate the effectiveness of the COPS program in reaching its
stated goals, analysts at The Heritage Foundation's Center for Data Analysis
examined the Justice Department's own records in the COPS Management System
database as well as data supplied by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
in the Uniform Crime Reports for 1994, 1995, and 1998.4
The results of the Heritage analysis suggest that the COPS program has put far
fewer than 100,000 more police officers on America's streets. Moreover, many of
the jurisdictions receiving COPS grants have funneled a sizeable portion of
that funding into areas that have comparatively less need to hire more police
officers.
Specifically, this study found:
* Far fewer than 100,000 additional officers have been put on the street as a
result of COPS.
Between 1993, when federal awards for community policing began,5 and
1998, the total number of full-time sworn police officers in the United States
grew by 87,435--from 553,773 to 641,208.6 Yet a study of the historic rates of
growth in the number of police officers before the COPS program began indicates
that the number of officers who would have been hired without COPS funds would
have increased between 47,818 and 81,204 from 1993 to 1998. In other words, the
number of officers "on the beat" in 1998 is just 6,231 to 39,617 higher than
the historic hiring trend suggests would have occurred without COPS funds.
* The lower number of officers on the street mirrors the conclusions of the
Justice Department's own inspector general.
These Heritage findings are compatible with other independent analyses.
For example, in a July 1999 report, the Justice Department's inspector general
stated, "Clearly, the COPS grants will not result in 100,000 officers on the
streets by the end of FY 2000. Based on projections by the COPS Office, only
59,765 of the additional officers will be deployed by the end of FY 2000."7
This number (59,765) not only includes the increase in the number of police
officers in the United States, but also counts existing officers who are
claimed to be redeployed to community policing as a result of the hiring of
clerical employees or the purchase of equipment under the COPS program.
* A recent report funded by the COPS Office finds that the program will result
in far fewer than 100,000 additional officers on the street.
A team of researchers working for the U.S. Department of Justice found
that the COPS program has resulted in a net increase of between 36,288 and
37,523 police officers in the United States at the end of 1998.8 Moreover, the
Justice Department report notes that the number of additional officers hired
because of the COPS program will peak at a maximum of 57,175 in 2001. Even
after counting officers who are "redeployed" due to the purchase of equipment
or the hiring of administrative staff with COPS funds, the Justice Department
researchers found that the number of officers added to the street will peak at
between 68,991 and 84,630 in 2001.
* Some police departments have used COPS funds to "supplant"--or substitute
for--local funds they would have used to hire new officers.
An audit of grantees suspected of not complying with the grant
requirements conducted by the inspector general found strong evidence that the
COPS Office's projection of 59,765 additional police officers still may have
overestimated the number of new officers that would be put on the street.
According to an analysis of 147 "high risk" grant recipients, up to 41 percent
used the money to "supplant local funds."9
* Estimates of how many additional hours officers spend on the street because
of COPS grants are overstated.
The COPS Making Officer Redeployment Effective (MORE) grants were
intended to enable agencies to purchase equipment and hire clerical staff so
that officers could be reassigned from administrative work to community
policing. Yet the inspector general found that almost four in every five "high
risk" recipients (78 percent) "could not demonstrate they had or would
re-deploy officers from administrative duties to the streets."10
* Some funded agencies showed small to no growth in the numbers of new officers
despite receiving large amounts of COPS funds.
Between 1994 and 1998, the Miami Police Department grew by only 21 new
officers, according to data the department reported to the FBI, despite
receiving some $45.9 million ($34.4 million for hiring new officers) in COPS
grants between 1993 and 1997. This means that an average of almost $2.2 million
in federal grants was received for each additional police officer placed on the
streets. Meanwhile, although Atlanta was among the top 20 grant recipients with
a total of $15.3 million ($11 million for hiring new officers) in COPS funding
between 1993 and 1997, the city's police department reported to the FBI a total
of 75 fewer officers by 1998.
* The distribution of COPS funds has been highly concentrated.
Almost half (47.7 percent) of the $1.58 billion in COPS funding allocated
to 315 large agencies serving jurisdictions of over 100,000 persons between
1993 and 1997 went to just 10 police departments. These 10 departments serviced
only 21 percent of the combined population of the 315 communities studied, and
their officers handled only 24 percent of their reported violent crimes.
* Some communities with low crime rates received large COPS grants.
The Heritage analysis found that the 1995 violent crime rates for at
least five of the 20 largest police agencies receiving the largest grants
between 1993 and 1997 were below the average for comparable jurisdictions.
Endnotes
1. The $7.5 billion figure was obtained by summing appropriations designated
for the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services and the Office of
Justice Programs' funding for community policing grants. See Public Laws
103-121, 103-317, 104-134, 104-208, 105-119, 105-277, and 106-113.
2. See "About COPS: Rebuilding the Bond Between Citizens and the Government,"
U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, at
http://www.usdoj.gov/cops/news_info/default.htm (August 28, 2000).
3. Press release, "COPS Office Announces Grants to Enhance Law Enforcement
Infrastructures and Community Policing Efforts in Indian Communities," U.S.
Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, August
22, 2000, at http://www.usdoj.gov/cops/news_info/press_releases/default.htm
(August 28, 2000).
4. The authors gratefully acknowledge the role that Scripps Howard News Service
played in initiating this project. Inquiries from Scripps Howard reporters
about the relationship between COPS grants and crime rate change prompted
analysts from the Center for Data Analysis to construct a database for this
study.
5. Although the COPS program was officially created under the 1994 Crime Act,
this paper references funding awarded in 1993 since Congress included funding
for community police officers in the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and
State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year
1994 (P.L. 103-121). The funds were awarded in calendar year 1993. The
Department of Justice referred to these funds as Police Hiring Supplement (PHS)
grants after the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) was
created in 1994. PHS grants were superseded by a set of similar grants
administered by the COPS Office. According to the Justice Department's Office
of Inspector General, PHS grants were a "down payment" in the effort to deploy
100,000 additional officers on the street. See Michael R. Bromwich, Management
and Administration of the Community Oriented Policing Services Grant Program,
U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Inspector General, Audit Division, Report
No. 99-21, July 1999, at http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/au9921/9921toc.htm (August
18, 2000).
6. From a select summary of data published in the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports,
U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, at
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/dtdata.htm#e&e (August 24, 2000).
7. Ibid.
8. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Evaluation
of the COPS Program, August 2000, pp. 149-176.
9. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Inspector General, Special Report:
Police Hiring and Redeployment Grants, Summary of Audit Findings and
Recommendations, Report No. 99-14, April 1999. See also Bromwich, Management
and Administration of the Community Oriented Policing Services Grant Program.
10. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Inspector General, Special Report:
Police Hiring and Redeployment Grants, Summary of Audit Findings and
Recommendations. See also Bromwich, Management and Administration of the
Community Oriented Policing Services Grant Program.
(c) 1995 - 2006 The Heritage Foundation
All Rights Reserved.
LEE LOFASO -> JOHN HULL wrote:
LL> Hello John,
LL>>> The perps who conducted the 1993 WTC bombing were caught and brought
LL>>> to justice - thanks to the Clinton administration. The perps who
LL>>> bombed the U.S.S. Cole were caught and brought to justice - thanks to
LL>>> the Clinton administration. Al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan were bombe
LL>>> - thanks to the Clinton administration.
GL>>> Lee, did Clinton grow the gov't by needing to establish another
GL>>> gov't dept. like the Department of Homeland Security?
LL>>> Nah. Clinton had a better idea, by putting 100,000 cops on the
LL>>> streets. Of course, once Bush took office, that fine program was
LL>>> ditched. And then came 9/11...
JH>> What absolute bullshit! Clinton never even got close to 100,000
LL> cops. What'
JH>> worse, most of the ones who did get hired lost those jobs after a
LL> couple of
JH>> years because the government only funded them for one year, leaving
LL> the loca
JH>> jurisdictions to pick up the tab when most of them had no money to do
LL> so.
LL> The Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program was one of the
LL> hallmarks of the Clinton administration. And what a great achievement
LL> it was! This federal program added more than 100,000 cops to local
LL> police forces, and helped to cut crime to the lowest levels in history.
LL> Now that is what I would call $8 billion dollars well-spent. These
LL> funds paid for all or part of entry-level officers' salaries during
LL> their FIRST THREE YEARS of work, with agencies receiving those grants
LL> required to keep those oficers for a FOURTH YEAR.
JH>> Great solution, eh?
LL> Yes indeedy. :)
JH>> Typical pie-in-the-sky feel-good liberal bullshit.
LL> Especially for those 100,000+ cops who had jobs as a result. :)
JH>> Spray it around thick, make everybody feel good, and then steal away
JH>> through the back door when nobody is watching.
LL> U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton blew a gasket when Bush decided to end the
LL> program, demanding that funds be restored. But Bush was not interested
LL> in protecting the American people...
JH>> Makes you proud to be an American, right, Lee?
LL> It makes me VERY PROUD that President Clinton took steps to protect
LL> American citizens from harm. :)
JH>> Proud to be a piece of shit liberal!
LL> Especially that "piece of shit liberal" journalist for the USA Today.
LL> Check out this url -
LL> http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-12-01-cops-cover_x.htm
LL> Imagine that. Everything I posted supported by a reputable cite. :)
LL> Of course, the above cite also totally refutes your statements
LL> that "Clinton never even got close to 100,000 cops" and "only funded
LL> them for one year", etc.
LL> --Lee
LL> * SLMR 2.1a * Backup not found: (A)bort (R)etry (P)anic
LL> --- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
LL> * Origin: Try Our Web Based QWK: DOCSPLACE.ORG (1:123/140)
--- Thunderbird 1.5.0.2 (Windows/20060308)
* Origin: (1:123/789.0)
|