[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 34 (Thursday, February 23, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E413]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                       DON'T CUT COPS FAST GRANTS

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                           HON. BARNEY FRANK

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 23, 1995
  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, the Fall River Herald News 
is a newspaper closely attuned to the needs of the community in which 
it is located, and surrounding communities. It is a nonpartisan 
newspaper with an editorial policy that reflects its honest assessment 
of what is best for the people in its circulation area.
  I was therefore very pleased--although not surprised--to see a strong 
editorial in the February 14 issue of the Herald News which strongly 
opposes the pending Republican legislation which would undo the law we 
passed last year providing police officers for our local communities. 
As the Herald News notes, ``the GOP's efforts to rewrite the crime bill 
amount to little more than a petulant and misguided attempt to deny 
Clinton and the Democrats any credit for the war on crime. How 
childish.''
  Mr. Speaker, this editorial makes an excellent contribution to this 
current debate and for that reason I ask that it be reprinted here.
            [From the Fall River Herald News, Feb. 14, 1995]

                       Don't Cut COPS FAST Grants

       Politics is a truly unique game. We all know the rules: If 
     a member of the opposition party gets caught in some kind of 
     scandal, you cry foul. If a member of your own party gets 
     caught in a scandal, you look the other way.
       Sadly, the game is played the same way when it comes to 
     legislating. An idea, a piece of legislation, is never worthy 
     of consideration unless your own party thought of it first. 
     Just ask the Republicans.
       The crime bill pushed by President Clinton last fall was 
     hardly free of controversy. Some gun owners objected to the 
     ban on assault weapons, while liberals objected to the 
     expansion of the death penalty. But one thing just about 
     everyone seemed to agree on was the idea of providing funds 
     to thousands of small towns around the nation to hire more 
     police officers. The idea of beefing up local officers on the 
     street has enormous support among the public.
       But then again, that bill was passed last fall, when 
     Democrats still controlled Congress. After the November 
     election, Republicans won a majority in both the House and 
     Senate. And the crime bill became an immediate target for 
     them.
       Republicans and Democrats have some clear ideological 
     differences on the issue of crime. Republicans want to change 
     federal laws to allow prosecutors to use evidence gathered in 
     violation of the Constitution's Fourth Amendment protections 
     against illegal searches, if it is determined that police 
     acted in good faith. Republicans also want to impose a one-
     year limit for death row inmates to file federal appeals of 
     their sentences.
       Democrats worry that both measures would violate civil 
     liberties and hurt the individual's ability to get a fair 
     trial.
       These controversial issues can legitimately be debated by 
     both sides. But what seems far less controversial are the 
     COPS FAST grants, which cover three years to help pay for the 
     salary and benefits of additional police officers. In this 
     region, it provided the Dartmouth Police Department with 
     $128,524 to hire two new officers, while several other 
     communities got money to hire one officer each, including 
     Berkley, Dighton, Freetown, Rehoboth, Seekonk and Swansea. 
     Outside of drug dealers and other criminals, who's 
     complaining about having more police on the streets?
       The GOP is. They say the COPS FAST money should be 
     eliminated and turned into block grants that would be made 
     available to cities and counties. The GOP would allow local 
     officials to decide how to spend the money, rather than 
     ``require'' communities to spend the funds on new police 
     officers.
       But so far, few police chiefs have complained about getting 
     money to hire new officers. As the old saying goes, if it's 
     not broke, don't fix it.
       The GOP's efforts to rewrite the crime bill amount to 
     little more than a petulant and misguided attempt to deny 
     Clinton and the Democrats any credit for the war on crime.
       How childish.
       

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