Published November 1997 — Download PDF of the original newspaper column
Byrd's-Eye View By U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd Putting More Officers on the Beat
Recent statistics indicate that the violent crime rate in the U.S. is on a gradual decline. A new FBI study, for example, reports that the number of murders in this country last year was the lowest in decades. According to the Department of Justice, one initiative that is being credited with reducing the crime rate is the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program. The COPS program was established through the 1994 Omnibus Crime Bill to enable local communities to expand their police forces and to devise new ways of fighting crime on the local level. COPS and other anticrime initiatives are funded through the Violent Crime Reduction Trust Fund, which was created by my amendment to the Omnibus Crime Bill. The goal of the COPS program has been to increase the ranks of local police forces across the country by 20 percent, or 100,000 officers, over a six-year period. Currently, at its three-year anniversary mark, COPS has put 65,000 new officers -- more than half its goal -- on the streets of communities across the nation. While COPS provides an important initial boost, the expanded police forces it is making possible are expected to be sustained for the long-term through local resources. The success of the COPS program is largely attributable to the fact that it is geared toward law enforcement at the community level, enabling large cities and small towns to determine the best strategies for fighting and deterring crime on their own streets. West Virginia has benefitted significantly from COPS. Since the program's inception in 1994, more than $18 million in grants have been awarded to West Virginia communities. In fact, in the last three years, 47 of our state's 55 counties have received COPS grants, putting a total of 355 new officers on the front line of defense against crime in West Virginia. When I authored the amendment to fund COPS and other anti-crime programs in 1994, I did so to help ensure that our nation could better fight an escalating war against crime. Now, three years after the passage of the Omnibus Crime Bill that launched COPS, I am encouraged by reports that the rate of serious crime is declining, and I am gratified that COPS is being recognized as a positive factor in that decline. November 5, 1997