Washington, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-Lillington), the only N.C. member of the Homeland Security Committee, voted Tuesday for legislation that would provide for an additional 50,000 police officers across the nation over the next six years.
North Carolina would see an additional 1,249 officers under the legislation.
“Effective law enforcement begins on the local level, but federal leadership is critical in funding successful domestic security efforts. Homeland security starts with hometown security,” said Etheridge.
Etheridge voted with a bipartisan majority to pass H.R. 1700, the COPS Reauthorization Act. The COPS (Community Oriented Policing Services) initiative provides grants to tribal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to hire and train community policing professionals, acquire and deploy cutting-edge crime-fighting technologies, and develop and test innovative policing strategies.
Over the first 10 years of the COPS initiative, from 1995 to 2005, North Carolina received $184,260,916 to put an additional 2,921 police on the streets. Crime rates dropped dramatically during this period.
Etheridge has worked on the Homeland Security Committee to oppose attempts to eliminate the COPS initiative. Despite Etheridge’s efforts, Congress reduced funding for COPS hiring grants from $1 billion a year in the late 1990s to just $10 million in 2005. Then, in 2006, Congress completely eliminated the grants. H.R. 1700 relaunches this proven initiative as crime rates are beginning to rise again.