Where are the 100,000 New COPS?
Community Oriented Policing Services(COPS) Exposed

In a recent AV Press article, local democrats were quoted as saying, “Though the [Antelope] Valley historically has shown a heavily Republican voting inclination, it's only because the local GOP has had a monopoly on the message.

I would have to say that this is the closest that they are come to an accurate statement yet.  That statement was only off by one word.  For the statement to be true you simply need to replace the word “message” with the word “truth.”  The local GOP has been successful because they have a monopoly on the truth.  And in this area the truth sells.

Democrats, on the other hand, have been successful in California by twisting the truth in deceptive negative televisions ads that they flood the airways with in the last two weeks before elections.

Here’s some truth for you.  You know that 100,000 new police officers that Clinton and Gore keep bragging about putting on the streets?  The truth is that according to the Department of Justice(DOJ), the General Accounting Office(GAO), The Chicago Tribune and U.S. News and World Report, the most they can account for is about half of that number.  Somewhere between 40,000-60,000.  30,000 of which could not be verified! 

The Clinton-Gore Administration has some very creative ways of cooking those numbers too.  They count civilians and computer equipment in their count of “new police officers” in their count of 40,000-60,000.

And where are these officers going?  More than half of the federal grant money (it was a $8.8 billion dollar grant) has gone to halcyon jurisdictions with low crime rates like Beverly Hills, Nantucket, Mass., Steamboat Springs, Colo. 

Potsdam, Ohio, with a population of 250 received 11 new officers.  This is a town with no stoplights, stores, gas stations or restaurants.

Washington, D.C., a city with one of the highest crime rates in the country, received zero new police officers.

Staffers of the $8.8 billion program said that the political pressure to distribute the grant money was so great that they fudged the reports and that they would basically give out the money to anyone who would turn in an application and letter of intent. 

Kalee Kreider, Justice Department Official Charged With Implementing the Program, stated that it was a snap to get the bucks and that staffers constantly worried a reporter would send in a bogus request that would be approved.

This is the truth about that wonderful “new police officer” program that Clinton and Gore brag about so much.

Supporting Research
 
THE 100,000 COPS PROBLEM:
Clinton/Gore DOJ finds at least 40,000 Missing!


“I really felt we were wasting $1 billion. . . I thought it was criminal.” --Kalee Kreider, Justice Department Official Charged With Implementing the COPS Program (Jeff Glasser, “The Case of the Missing Cops,” U.S. News & World Report, July 17, 2000) (emphasis added)

GORE CALLS THE PROGRAM A SUCCESS AND WANTS TO EXPAND IT TO 150,000?

Gore Misrepresents The Facts Again . . . 

  • There Are Not 100,000 New Cops On The Street.
  • The Clinton/Gore DOJ Counted 60,000 At The Most--Over 30,000 Of Which Could Not Be Confirmed, And Could Be Eliminated Soon.
  • “On The Street” Does Not Mean “On The Street.”
  • New Cops Were Misdirected, Funding Was Misallocated--Cops Officers Have Been Assigned To Cut Cornstalks, Count Fish, And Guard Coral.

I. PLAYING GAMES WITH THE NUMBERS: THERE ARE NOT 100,000 NEW OFFICERS ON THE STREET

What Was Promised By Clinton/Gore: 100,000 New Cops On The Street

  • The Clinton/Gore Administration’s Plan: “By 2000, all 100,000 [officers] will be hired and serving on the streets of America.” (“Management and Administration of the Community Oriented Policing Services Grant Program,” citing the Attorney General’s 1994 Annual Report, U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, July 1999) (emphasis added)
  • 'Gore’s Promise: “[W]e are under budget and ahead of schedule as we meet our goal of adding 100,000 police officers to the beat by the year 2000.” (Al Gore, Crime Event, December 14, 1998) “We lived up to every promise to you and your loved ones: we’re funding 100,000 new community police, and fighting for up to 50,000 more.” (Al Gore, Fighting Crime for America’s Families, July 12, 1999) (emphasis added)

What America Got: 50,000 To 60,000 At The Most

  • Clinton/Gore’s COPS Office Could Only Count 60,000 New Cops. The past six years has demonstrated that the Clinton/Gore promise to put 100,000 new cops on the street is false. In addition to multiple problems with the COPS program, even the COPS office’s own projections demonstrate that by the end of FY00 when funding for the program ends, only 59,765 additional officers will have been deployed to the streets. (“Management and Administration of the Community Oriented Policing Services Grant Program,” U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, July 1999)
  • However, Clinton/Gore’s Department of Justice Counted Only 50,139 New Cops—Over 30,000 Of Which Could Not Be Confirmed Or May Be Eliminated Soon. According to a report prepared by the Department of Justice (DOJ)/Office of Inspector General (OIG), COPS acknowledged that as of February 1999 only 50,139 additional officers had been hired and deployed to the streets. (“Police Hiring and Redeployment Grants,” USDOJ/OIG Special Report, April 1999) 
    • 35,000 Of The 50,000 Cannot Be Confirmed. Of the 50,139 additional officers, 35,852 of those officers were attributed to the COPS MORE program, which provides $25,000 to grantees who re-deploy the equivalent of one full-time sworn officer to community policing. 52 out of 67 (78%) grantees receiving MORE grants, however, “either could not demonstrate that they redeployed officers or could not demonstrate that they had a system in place to track the redeployment of officers into community policing.” (“Police Hiring and Redeployment Grants,” USDOJ/OIG Special Report, April 1999) (emphasis added)
    • COPS Counted Equipment And Civilians As Cops. To meet the goal of 100,000 officers on the streets, the COPS office counted 35,850 “officers and deputies” toward their deployment total by virtue of their COPS MORE grants for $967 million of equipment and civilian salaries. COPS MORE grants do not actually hire cops, but instead pay for approved technology, equipment or civilian salaries for one year. (“Management and Administration of the Community Oriented Policing Services Grant Program,” U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, July 1999) 
    • A Third Of The New Cops Positions Could Be Dropped After 2000. Despite the COPS’ requirement that law enforcement agencies maintain the positions when the federal money ends, the Justice Department’s Inspector General determined that up to 31,091 officer positions may be lost when funding ends. (“Management and Administration of the Community Oriented Policing Services Grant Program,” U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, July 1999)
    • Cops Hired Under Unaccepted Grants Were Counted Anyway. As of February of 1999, at least 2,851 grants (worth $668.9 million) had not been accepted by local law enforcement agencies, yet the COPS office included 13,196 officers in their totals for these grants. Nearly 8,000 of these positions counted were well outside the 45-day period within which the grants must be accepted under COPS compliance laws; some grants had lapsed by as many as 1,362 additional days. (“Management and Administration of the Community Oriented Policing Services Grant Program,” U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, July 1999)
    • Cops Hired Under Terminated Grants Were Still Being Counted. At least 500 grants were terminated through July of 1999 for various noncompliance reasons, yet the 1,300 officers funded by the $79.7 million in cancelled grants were still included in COPS totals. Furthermore, the office failed to de-obligate the funds promptly. (“Management and Administration of the Community Oriented Policing Services Grant Program,” U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, July 1999)

A Chicago Tribune Investigation Only Found 40,680 New Cops. Furthermore, an investigation conducted by the Chicago Tribune found that, in May 1999, with only one year to go for the Clinton/Gore Administration to meet their deadline for hiring 100,000 new police officers, only 40,680 had been hired. That does not take into consideration that 38,000 of those positions included in the COPS hiring program were civilian employees and computers, not actual police officers. (Michael J. Berens, “Phantom Force,” Chicago Tribune, May 16, 1999) 

A General Accounting Office (GAO) Study Only Counted 30,155 New Cops. According to a report prepared by the General Accounting Office (GAO), as of June 1997, only 30,155 law enforcement officer positions funded by COPS grants were estimated by the COPS Office to be on the streets. (“Community Policing, Report to the Chairman, Committee on the Budget, and the Chairman, Subcommittee on Crime, Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives,” United States General Accounting Office, September 1997)


II. COPS: JUST ANOTHER ENORMOUSLY INEFFECTIVE GOVERNMENT PROGRAM

“There’s too much political advantage to the office. . . Whether it’s been effective or not doesn’t matter,” said Craig Uchida, a senior COPS career official. (Jeff Glasser, “The Case of the Missing Cops,” U.S. News and World Report, July 17, 2000) (emphasis added)

Misdirected Officers, Misdirected Funding.

  • New Cops Were Misdirected To Areas Of Low Crime, And Many High Crime Areas Received No New Officers. Besides not meeting its hiring goals, the COPS program has not provided help where it’s needed most. More than half of COPS grants have been to jurisdictions with low crime rates and fewer than 10,000 residents. 
    • Beverly Hills, California – Beverly Hills had 26 new police officers added to their payroll as a result of the COPS program. Beverly Hills already had more police per capita than any other city in California and has one of the lowest crime rates in the state, averaging only about 10 robberies a month. (“Office of Community Oriented Policing Services Grantee Report,” October 5, 1999; Susan Estrich, “Do Police Deserve Renewed Discretion,” USA Today, January 4, 1996; Lisa Van Proyen, “Sinatra Friend Battled Muggers,” Los Angeles Daily News, June 27, 1998) 
    • Washington, D.C. -- The public was promised that Washington, D.C. would receive 781 new police officers. However, the funds from the COPS program were used to purchase equipment and hire civilians, and not one new police officer was put on the streets. Unlike Beverly Hill’s low crime rate, Washington, D.C. streets witnessed 260 murders in 1998 alone. (Michael J. Berens, “Phantom Force,” The Chicago Tribune, May 16, 1999; “Citywide Crime Statistics: Annual Trends 1993-1998,” Metropolitan Police Dept., Washington, D.C., 1999)
    • Potsdam, Ohio – This population of 250 people ended up with 11 police officers under the COPS program. With 1 cop for every 35 residents, the people of Potsdam complained, “We didn’t live here so we could live like we were under martial law.” The COPS office gave the town $300,000, claiming that their department was going to take over law enforcement for a nearby township, a claim called “as preposterous as Staten Island claiming to police Manhattan.” The COPS office handed over the money without ever checking, even though the nearby township had rejected Potsdam’s “offer” a year earlier. (Jeff Glasser, “The Case of the Missing Cops,” U.S. News and World Report, July 17, 2000)
    • Minnesota -- Officers funded under the Clinton/Gore COPS program, “basically tell Vietnamese immigrants how many fish they can catch in the state’s lakes.” (Jeff Glasser, “The Case of the Missing Cops,” U.S. News and World Report, July 17, 2000)
    • Illinois – COPS officers were dispatched to cut cornstalks. (Jeff Glasser, “The Case of the Missing Cops,” U.S. News and World Report, July 17, 2000)
    • Florida – COPS officers have been assigned to protect coral “communities.” (Jeff Glasser, “The Case of the Missing Cops,” U.S. News and World Report, July 17, 2000)

COPS Funding Has Been Misallocated. The city of Portland accounts for 56% of all violent crimes committed in the state of Oregon, yet less than 1% of all the COPS funding awarded to Oregon went to Portland. (“Cops Grants Are Not Focused on the Localities Hardest Hit by Crime,” Subcommittee on Crime, December 6, 1995) 

  • Effective Placement Of Officers Is Crucial Warned Rudy Giuliani, Whose Crime Strategy In NYC Was Responsible For 25% Of The Nationwide Crime Drop. NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (R), who so dramatically lowered crime in NYC that it accounted for 25%, a full one-quarter, of the nationwide drop in crime, told a congressional panel that: “[I]t is important to emphasize that simply hiring new police officers does not by itself effect a turnaround in crime. What matters is how the officers are deployed. Results are seen when resources are used in a specific, strategic manner.” (Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Testimony Before The U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, March 3, 1999) (emphasis added)

Mismanagement At The Highest Levels

  • Former Justice Department Officials Reveal The Program’s Long History Of Problems. --Kalee Kreider, Justice Department Official Charged With Implementing the COPS Program: “Clinton gave the small COPS staff too little time--12 days from when crime-bill monies became available in 1994-to fund 5,000 police officers. Unable to act that quickly, COPS’s officials fudged it, says Kreider, throwing some 2,080 cops previously hired under other federal programs into the tally and then picking through applications rejected by a competitive 1993 police hiring program to come up with 2,770 more. Staffers became even sloppier during the next round of funding, says Kreider, adopting ‘a statistician’s recipe’ for approving grants ‘in two days or less. . . ’ COPS workers were in such a rush to dole out funds, Kreider says, that they approved almost any application accompanied by a one-page letter of intent. It was such a snap to get bucks that Kreider says staffers constantly worried a reporter would send in a bogus request that would be approved.” (Jeff Glasser, “The Case of the Missing Cops,” U.S. News and World Report, July 17, 2000) (emphasis added)
  • The COPS Grantees Were Not Monitored Adequately. Various studies have demonstrated that the COPS program not only miscounted and misallocated officers, it also failed to monitor them:
    • Olympian Village, Missouri -- Before the Clinton/Gore Administration’s COPS initiative, this town of 752 residents didn’t even have a full-time police force. As a result of the COPS program, the town received five federally funded officers, and “an Olympic-size public-relations disaster. The new chief kicked a resident in the face over a dispute involving an unkempt lawn. His replacement turned out to be a former bounty hunter who was on probation in Illinois for criminal destruction of property. The rest of the new force devoted most of its time to a speed trap that proved lucrative enough for the city treasury but offended residents so mightily that they called the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The trap, it turns out, was patently illegal -- it was set up on county, not city, property. Earlier this year, exasperated aldermen, admitting that they should have watched their police more closely, shut down the department and dismissed all five officers. But that hasn’t stopped the Justice Department from including the village’s defunct force in its count of officers added to the nation’s streets over the past six years.” (“Despite Successes, COPS Program Suffers Some Keystone Moments,” The Wall Street Journal, May 22, 2000) (emphasis added)
    • Baltimore, Maryland – “[C]ity auditors in a 1999 report found the police sometimes used COPS money to pay the salaries of veteran officers rather than new hires -- a clear violation of federal rules that the city later rectified. With one COPS grant large enough to hire 136 new officers, Baltimore added only 98, citing a restructuring that shifted hundreds of regular policemen from desk jobs to the street, and thus seemingly negated the need for the federal hires. Yet through retirements and attrition, the city, its tax base and population in decline, let the size of the overall force dwindle. It is now down more than 200 officers from its authorized strength.” (“Despite Successes, COPS Program Suffers Some Keystone Moments,” The Wall Street Journal, May 22, 2000)
    • Calumet Park, Illinois – “The mayor, police officials and their families spent $44,000 in COPS money on cash advances, travel, airfare, liquor, clothing, a ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’ video and a Nat King Cole tape, an audit found.” (“Despite Successes, COPS Program Suffers Some Keystone Moments,” The Wall Street Journal, May 22, 2000) (emphasis added)

Fiscal Spending By The COPS Administrators Raises Questions. Although the COPS program was appropriated $8.8 billion as authorized under the 1994 Crime Act, by the end of FY00 the Justice Department has only actually given $4.2 billion of this money to local law enforcement agencies. Over half of the money meant to prevent crime still sits in Washington, D.C. In any given year, only a small portion of the funds that were obligated were paid out during that same year. Obligated funds were often bounced from year to year to year. (Federal Budgets, 1994 through 2001)


III. THE COPS PROGRAM DOES NOT PROVIDE STATES AND LOCALITIES WITH THE FLEXIBLE CRIME FIGHTING RESOURCES THEY NEED

The COPS Program Is Not The Answer. The Clinton/Gore Administration has promoted the COPS program as the best answer to America’s crime problems. The truth is the COPS program fails to meet the diverse needs of America’s law enforcement agencies, because each state or local agency cannot spend the money in the areas that have the most need. In 1999, the Administration requested $1.275 billion for their COPS program – funds that could be used for only one purpose--putting more police officers on the streets. The COPS MORE program does not provide the flexibility to purchase the equipment that law enforcement agencies need, as individual purchases under that program are severely restricted under the overall COPS grant program to meet an inflexible set of criteria. (“COPS Talking Points for CJS Conference Bill,” Subcommittee on Crime, October 22, 1999) 


Clinton/Gore Administration Tried To Kill The Block Grants That Gave Law Enforcement The Flexible Help They Need In 1999. The Clinton/Gore Administration’s FY00 budget terminated the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant program, as well as the Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grant program. Unlike the COPS program, block grants provide states and local communities with flexible funds – money that can be used to hire more cops, or spend on any other crime fighting need they may have without purpose-defeating restrictions or stringent criteria. (“Summary of the Final Spending Package,” House Appropriations Committee, November 17, 1999; “COPS Talking Points for CJS Conference Bill,” Subcommittee on Crime, October 22, 1999) 


Congressional Republicans Restored The Block Grants To Fight Crime In 1999. States and local communities must have the freedom to use federal funds in a manner that is most useful to them. Therefore, the Republican Congress restored both the Local Law Enforcement and Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grants, only providing $595 million for the COPS program. Together, the block grant programs provided $773 million to state and local law enforcement agencies in FY00. (“Summary of the Final Spending Package,” House Appropriations Committee, November 17, 1999) 

The Current Clinton/Gore Budget Proposal. The Administration, and Gore’s presidential campaign, are now proposing a $1.3 billion dollar “21st Century Policing Initiative,” of which $650 million would be used to hire and re-deploy more law enforcement officers for FY01. According to the Budget, this COPS II program will add “to the 100,000 police officers already funded by the COPS program,” and will “place up to 50,000 officers on the street by 2005.” The available details in the Budget suggest that the “new” COPS II grant program would be virtually identical to the current COPS program that has proven an ineffective answer to the crime needs of America’s law enforcement agencies. (“Enforcing the Law,” Budget for Fiscal Year 2001, Office of Management and Budget, 2000, p. 109)

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