The White House Transition Team has proposed a budget that would eliminate the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS).
COPS is responsible for funding thousands of state and local police agencies and includes assistance with hiring new police officers and obtaining technology that assists law enforcement in doing their job.
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The COPS website states the following: “The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) is a component within the
U.S. Department of Justice dedicated to community policing.”
In response to the proposed budget, Congressman Sean Maloney wrote the following letter to President Trump:
Dear President Trump:
I write in response to recent reports regarding your budget blueprint, which includes plans to eliminate the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS). Eliminating this office would wipe out funding that has supported 13,000 law enforcement agencies and enabled them to hire 130,000 officers nationwide.
You campaigned on a promise to support our law enforcement, and even styled yourself as the “law and order” candidate. Gutting or eliminating the COPS office would be a direct violation of that promise and would make our communities more dangerous. Reducing the budget is a worthy goal, but robbing law enforcement agencies of critical resources is not the way to achieve it.
In my home district in the Hudson Valley, COPS investments have assisted local police departments hire 13 police officers who are currently serving in Middletown, Newburgh and Poughkeepsie. For businesses, families and communities throughout my Congressional District this means more cops on the beat and a decrease in violent crimes. But the benefits of the COPS office are not just felt in the 18 Congressional District of New York; they are evident across the country and date back more than 25 years.
The COPS office has been an instrumental partner in helping local law enforcement address the changing world of policing, and the impact of reducing its budget or eliminating its services would be significantly felt throughout the country. For these reasons, I implore you to reconsider the proposal released by your Transition Team and remain committed to backing the badge.
Sincerely,
Sean Patrick Maloney
Member of Congress
