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GAO-05-699R 1 (2005-06-03)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptarvb0001 and id is 1 raw text is: A ... nabiity * Integrty' Reliability Washington, DC 20548 June 3, 2005 The Honorable F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. Chairman Committee on the Judiciary House of Representatives Subject: Interim Report on the Effects of COPS Funds on the Decline in Crime during the 1990s Dear Mr. Chairman: The enactment of the Public Safety Partnership and Community Policing Act of 1994, Title 1 of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (VCCLEA),1 authorized appropriations of $8.8 billion to advance the practice of community policing as an effective strategy in communities' efforts to improve public safety. It had as a goal adding 100,000 new police officers nationwide.2 The Attorney General created the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) to administer community policing grants. VCCLEA was enacted shortly after a period of increasing violent crimes such as murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. For example, from 1983 to 1992-the year before the nationwide volume of violent crime began to decline-the number of violent crimes known to the police increased from less than 1.3 million to more than 1.9 million (or about 54 percent), and the violent crime rate per 100,000 population increased from 538 to 758 (or about 41 percent). In December 1993, the Department of Justice (DOJ) began making community policing grants to state and local law enforcement agencies.' 1Pub. L. 103-322 (1994), 42 U.S.C. § 3796dd. 2The act contained other provisions to address violent crime, such encouraging states to increase the use of incarceration for violent offenders through the Violent Offender Initiative and Truth-in-Sentencing grants, enhancing penalties for gang crimes, and expanding the number of federal death penalty offenses. 3Prior to the enactment of VCCLEA, DOJ awarded grants under the Police Hiring Supplement Program, established by the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 1993 ((P.L. 103-50 (1993)). Grants made under this program were funded by DOJ's Bureau of Justice Assistance and monitored by the COPS Office. In this report, COPS grants refer to both these grants and community policing grants authorized under VCCLEA. GAO-05-699R Page I

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