 he 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (often called the "Crime Act") aimed to reduce crime by putting 100,000 additional police officers on the street. The Act authorized nearly $9 billion in grant money for local law enforcement agencies to hire officers and develop "community policing" strategies—crime-control techniques that put law enforcement officers in more immediate touch with the neighborhoods they patrol.
The Attorney General created the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) in the U.S. Department of Justice to implement the law. The Urban Institute, a nonpartisan policy research organization, recently evaluated the COPS program's performance during its first 4 years. Key questions in this National Institute of Justice-sponsored study were:
How well did the COPS program succeed in putting more police officers on the street, and how did that change the way law enforcement agencies were able to perform their jobs?
By May 1999, 100,500 officers and equivalents had been funded. Preliminary estimates indicate that between 84,700 and 89,400 will have been deployed by 2003. Because some officers will have departed before others begin service, the federally funded increase in policing levels may have peaked in 2001 between 69,000 and 84,600.  |
| Did areas with high crime rates receive more COPS funding than areas with low crime rates?
Yes... |
| How did the law enforcement agencies that received COPS grant money feel about the process they had to go through to receive it?
Agency opinions about the application process depended largely on jurisdiction size and the specific COPS program... |
| How well have individual law enforcement agencies used the COPS grant money to improve their community policing programs?
The COPS program influenced the development of community policing in three immediate ways... |
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