Community Policing

The Community Policing Act of 1994 set aside $8.8 billion through 2000 to strengthen public safety, including putting 100,000 additional police officers on the streets nationwide. This testimony reports on the COPS grant program midway through its six-year authorization. GAO found that COPS grants were not targeted on the basis of greatest need for assistance. However, the higher the crime rate, the more likely a jurisdiction was to apply for a COPS grant. COPS office grant monitoring was limited. Monitoring guidelines were not prepared, site visits and telephone monitoring did not systematically take place, and information on activities and accomplishments was not consistently collected or reviewed. Small communities were awarded most COPS office grants, but large cities received larger awards. In accordance with the act, about half the funds were awarded to agencies serving populations of less than 150,000. As of June 1997, a total of 30,155 law enforcement positions funded by COPS grants were estimated to be on the street.

GAO noted that: (1) the Public Safety Partnership and Community Policing Act authorizes $8.8 billion to be used from fiscal years (FY) 1995 to 2000 to enhance public safety; (2) it has the goals of adding 100,000 officer positions, funded by grants, to the streets of communities nationwide and promoting community policing; (3) among other things, the act required that half the grants go to law enforcement agencies serving populations of 150,000 or less; (4) the Attorney General created the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services to administer community policing grants; (5) at the end of FY 1997, GAO reported on the Department of Justice's implementation of the act and progress toward achieving program goals; (6) GAO found that grants were not targeted to law enforcement agencies on the basis of which agency had the greatest need for assistance, but rather to agencies that met COPS program criteria; (7) previous work had shown that overall, the higher crime rate, the more likely a jurisdiction was to apply for a COPS grant; (8) the primary reasons contacted jurisdictions chose not to apply for a grant were cost related; (9) GAO reported that the COPS Office provided limited monitoring to assure compliance with the act during the period reviewed; (10) COPS officials said they were taking steps to increase the level of monitoring; (11) the majority of the 13,396 grants awarded in FY 1995 and FY 1996 went to law enforcement agencies serving populations of fewer than 50,000; (12) communities with populations of over 1 million were awarded less than 1 percent of the grants, although they were awarded over 23 percent of the total grant dollars; and (13) as of June 1997, the COPS Office estimated that a total of 30,155 law enforcement officer positions funded by COPS grants were on the streets.