COPS: PARTNERSHIPS WITH COMMUNITIES

By Joseph E. Brann, director of the Office of Community-Oriented
Policing Services (COPS), U.S. Department of Justice

As a result of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, the Department of Justice established the Office of Community-Oriented Policing Services (COPS). In this April 1997 statement before the House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee, which oversees the COPS budget, Director Joseph E. Brann presents an overview of COPS, which he describes as "crime-fighting partnerships between the police and the citizens they are sworn to serve and protect."




In October 1994, Attorney General Janet Reno established the Office of Community-Oriented Policing Services, or COPS, to implement Title I of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. Title I of this act is the Public Safety Partnership and Community Policing Act of 1994, which has the goal of putting an additional 100,000 community policing officers on the beat throughout the country.

Title I is aptly named. What is crucial about our program, and what will ensure its long-term success, is that the officers we fund are engaged in community policing and work to build partnerships with their communities to more effectively address local crime problems.

At the core of community policing are crime fighting partnerships between the police and the citizens they are sworn to serve and protect. Officers engaged in community policing become part of the neighborhoods where they work. They get to know the children, the storekeepers, the families, as well as the criminals and troublemakers. The officers work with schools, churches, community organizations and other government agencies to solve neighborhood problems instead of simply responding to the same situations over and over again.

Community policing is not a big-government solution to the crime problem. Community policing is a strategy that was developed at the street level, by rank-and-file officers who best know what works and what doesn't. My 26 years of local law enforcement experience have convinced me of one thing: community policing works.

A BACKGROUND IN COMMUNITY POLICING

I served as an officer in the Santa Ana, California, Police Department for 21 years, rising through the ranks from officer to captain. While initially disillusioned with policing, I stayed with the profession because a new police chief came to the department and introduced community policing. I saw how police could do more than just continually react to the same crimes: they could figure out patterns, identify criminal opportunities, and intervene and actually stop similar crimes before they happened.

In 1989, I moved from Santa Ana to serve as chief of the Hayward, California, Police Department. In Hayward, despite demographics that are different from Santa Ana's, I again saw how effective community policing can be.

A PROACTIVE APPROACH

The COPS program was designed both to increase the number of law enforcement officers by approximately 20 percent and to advance community policing nationwide. We want to make sure that these 100,000 additional officers are not sitting behind desks, but are out in their communities fighting the war on crime. Community policing is a proactive approach to policing which was developed by beat cops in departments across the country. COPS grants serve to introduce some departments to this strategy and to advance it in others. COPS grants have allowed departments large and small to become more effective, more efficient and more responsive to their communities. COPS grants have enabled the largest cities and the smallest towns to bolster their law-enforcement efforts and reclaim their neighborhoods.

During my tenure at COPS, I have had the opportunity to meet with chiefs, sheriffs, officers, deputies, mayors, county commissioners and community activists. I have heard countless tales of community policing turning a community around, from big cities such as Fort Worth, Texas, which saw a 44 percent decrease in crime just four years after implementing community policing, to North Brunswick, New Jersey, which saw a more than 22 percent reduction in crime after implementing community policing with the help of three grants: COPS FAST, COPS MORE and the COPS Universal Hiring Program. Marysville, California, for example, saw a 24 percent drop in crime in 1996. The police chief and community residents credit community policing. Marysville has received grants for three officers from the COPS Office.

Another example is Shirley, Massachusetts, which experienced a 36 percent decrease in crime in the first seven months of 1995. The town experienced a sharp decline in vandalism and thefts -- crimes that affect the quality of life in towns like Shirley. Chief Paul Thibodeau attributed the reduction to increased police visibility made possible by the town's community policing grant. Shirley used its COPS grant to start foot and bicycle patrols.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Community policing has been credited with reducing violent crime in cities like Tampa, Florida, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Tampa saw a reduction of 15 percent in the first six months of 1995. Pittsburgh experienced a 17.5 percent reduction in crime in 1995: the residents of Pittsburgh are the safest they have been in 30 years. Neighbors and police working together have made the difference in those cities. For 1996, homicides in Phoenix, Arizona, declined by 16 percent, according to recent reports. The COPS Office has helped each of these cities implement community policing, increase trust, improve the quality of life by reducing the fear of crime, and, most importantly, decrease their crime rates.

Perhaps our greatest impact can be felt in the communities where a COPS grant has meant the difference between having a police department or not having one at all. There are places like Navassa, North Carolina, a small town that had become one of the most notorious drug areas in Brunswick County. Navassa was able to start its police department -- a chief and two officers -- with COPS grants. Now, the drug dealers have left the streets and prostitutes are no longer on the corners.

I could go on with example after example of how local policing agencies, assisted by COPS grants, have implemented community policing and have seen a real difference. I would encourage you to speak with chiefs, sheriffs and officers across the country who are crediting community policing for the decline in crime that we are seeing nationwide. It is making a difference. These agencies are building community pride and keeping people safe. Community policing works and works well.

NEW GOALS

The COPS program has a goal of adding 100,000 community policing officers by the year 2000. I am pleased to report that we are on track. At the two-and-a-half-year mark, we have funded the hiring or redeployment of more than 56,000 additional community policing officers. Once these officers are hired and trained by local law enforcement, they will serve more than 87 percent of the American public.

Some have asked why all of these 56,000 officers authorized by the COPS program are not on the beat yet. The answer is that finding qualified candidates, conducting thorough background checks, putting the candidates through training academies and then undergoing a solid field-officer training program can take anywhere from six to 18 months. COPS leaves it up to localities to follow their own rigorous screening, hiring and training procedures. In fact, we specifically encourage our grantees not to cut any corners to rush officers into service. As a veteran law-enforcement officer, I can tell you that shortcuts do a grave disservice not only to the citizens of a community, but to individual officer safety as well.

COPS has been and will always strive to be responsive to those it serves: our nation's law enforcement agencies and officers. We realize that later this year, the first COPS grants will be expiring and localities will begin assuming the full cost of these additional officers. All applicants to the COPS program have said that they have a retention plan and will make a good-faith effort to retain their officers. COPS will assist grantees with retention and continuation of community policing.

THE COPS GRANT PROGRAMS

The Police Corps program will increase the number of police with advanced education and training, and provide educational assistance to students who are interested in serving as a law enforcement officer. This program, which requires a four-year service obligation by scholarship recipients, is expected to provide the necessary incentives to attract and retain young men and women to a career in law enforcement. We have received applications from seventeen states to participate in this year's program.

The Law Enforcement Scholarship Act is a complement to Police Corps. It will provide financial aid to police officers and sheriffs' deputies, those who have already demonstrated a commitment to law enforcement. Officers will receive scholarships in order to pursue higher education. This program, like the Police Corps grants program, will require a service obligation by scholarship recipients, and is critical to enhancing state and local law enforcement recruitment, retention and education efforts.

Finally, the Police Recruitment program is designed to recruit and retain applicants to police departments. The program provides: recruiting services, which include tutorial programs to enable individuals to meet necessary academic requirements and to pass entrance examinations; assistance for candidates as they undergo the application process; and services to assist agencies in retaining qualified applicants.

Issues of Democracy
USIA Electronic Journal, Vol. 2, No. 4, November 1997