LOSING COPS HURTS POLICE

Federal program has empowered local police to invest in neighborhoods. Bush
should preserve spirit of COPS.

President Bush's proposal to dismantle the Community Oriented Policing
Services program could deprive local law enforcement agencies of the
ability to acquire new technology, add new officers and fund innovative
programs that have built inroads into troubled neighborhoods. At its heart,
COPS is as much about crime prevention as it is about crime fighting.
Police are justifiably opposed to ditching this program.

Without COPS, local governments with limited means would likely lack the
funding to conduct drug and alcohol education programs for children, offer
citizen police academies and staff police substations in dangerous
neighborhoods. COPS has been instrumental in a nationwide effort to raise
the profile of police in neighborhoods and to integrate officers within the
fabric of local communities. The program's premise is simple: If residents
develop relationships with police, then police will be viewed as trusted
allies. The result has been a drop in crime in neighborhoods where police
and residents work in concert. Less easy to quantify is the number of
confrontations such familiarity has prevented. The president announced last
week his intentions to replace COPS with an $800 million Justice Assistance
grant, which would funnel about 20 percent less in federal assistance to
states. So even if the spirit of COPS is preserved, fewer communities will
receive benefits.

South Carolina depends heavily on COPS grants, and police agencies here
have been exceptional in procuring them. COPS has sent $74.2 million in
federal funds to this state since it was adopted in 1994.

Most COPS grants pay 75 percent of a new officer's salary for four or five
years. Once the funding ends, local governments are forced to pick up the
salary, something critics say undermines the effectiveness of the program.
But in many cases, the new officers hired with COPS grants are retained by
local police.

Police departments in Greenville, Greer, Mauldin and Simpsonville, along
with Furman University, have won COPS grants. Most recently, a COPS grant
allowed the Easley Police Department to add a new radio system, an
electronic fingerprinting station and six laptop computers.

Attorney General John Ashcroft argues in favor of dismantling the program
because doing so will allow the Justice Department, which oversees COPS, to
spend more money on homeland security. The events of Sept. 11 have forced a
shifting of priorities within law enforcement that makes it difficult to
quibble with the attorney general's reasoning.

However, testimonials of the value of COPS by local law enforcement across
the nation should be reason enough for the federal government to fund
efforts that continue to promote community-oriented policing.

These grants have allowed local law enforcement to dedicate officers to
building relationships with people. That rapport and earned trust have
usually made the job of police officers much easier.