Weiner Obtains Federal Funds For 67 Cops

Weiner Obtains Federal Funds For 67 Cops


U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner has announced that the new Democratic-led Congress has earmarked $70 million to fund a grant program that will fully finance as many as 67 new NYPD cops.

ANTHONY WEINER: 'More cops, less crime.' According to Mr. Weiner, $5 million of the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program funds will go directly to New York City.

'A Proven Winner'

"The COPS program is a proven winner, cutting crime and making neighborhoods safe in New York City, the Tri-State area, and across the nation," Mr. Weiner said in a statement. "More cops on the streets means [fewer] violent crimes and greater vigilance."

But the money may not immediately help increase the NYPD's staff, because the department has struggled to attract new recruits at the reduced starting salary of $25,100 for their first six months of training. The Bloomberg administration has also set aside funds for an additional 800 officers, but the NYPD is currently 1,000 officers short of its hiring target.

"It is the starting salary that was in existence 21 years ago in this department," Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly told reporters Jan. 25. "We are in the most expensive city in America, and it's challenging for us to hire people with that number."

As for the COPS program, in January 2006 President Bush signed legislation to reauthorize the grant. But Mr. Weiner complained last November that after that "we just haven't been able to get the folks who hold the pursestrings in Washington to fund it."

Commissioner Kelly has noted that the program, which was established in 1994 after President Bill Clinton vowed to put 100,000 new officers on the streets nationwide, has been very helpful to the NYPD.

'Will Benefit City'

"It enabled the department to rise to the level of 40,800 Police Officers in October of 2000," he said in November. "We are below that number, and if that program is put back in place I think it will be very beneficial to the city." According to the department, the current headcount is 35,672 officers.

The grant was designed to supplement police agencies' headcounts and boost the number of patrol cops in an attempt to reduce violent crime. Nationally, COPS has provided $9 billion to hire 117,000 police officers, according to Mr. Weiner.

Under the new grant, police agencies will be able to use the money to fund "t-cops" or "terrorism cops," who specialize in thwarting terrorists. Local law-enforcement departments can also use the funds to pay for additional personnel and for new equipment such as radios and computers.

Based on the prior structure of the grant, the added officers were paid $25,000 for each of their three years - covering more than half their base salaries in each year. By the fourth year, the officers' full salaries were paid by their departments.

Since 1994, the Police Department has used the COPS program to employ an additional 7,406 officers at a cost of $603 million, according to Gilbert Moore, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice's COPS Office.