[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 32 (Thursday, February 27, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2982-S2983]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               THE BUDGET

  Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I rise today to discuss an issue that is 
important to many people throughout the State of Arkansas and indeed 
throughout this country. I rise to express my disappointment with the 
budget as it pertains to law enforcement programs and, in particular, 
community policing.
  I believe the budget shortchanges smaller communities and grossly 
underfunds programs that have put more police officers on the street, 
reduced crime in rural areas, curbed drug abuse, and put at-risk youth 
back on the right track.
  Mr. President, this budget cuts funding to the Community Oriented 
Policing Services--known by its acronym COPS--by 85 percent. That is 85 
percent. This program was funded at $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2002. 
President Bush proposes only $164 million for the COPS program in 
fiscal year 2004. The administration's budget request for COPS 
represents a 100 percent cut to the COPS universal hiring program, and 
a 100 percent cut to the ``COPS in school'' program. In fact, the only 
program that is funded under this budget is the COPS technology 
program, and even that has been cut by 66 percent.
  From its inception, COPS has awarded just over $8 billion to local 
and State law enforcement agencies across the country. With grant 
money, departments have hired over 110,000 community police officers, 
in addition to purchasing technological upgrades and equipment.
  The COPS Program was established to focus on crime prevention and 
community engagement. This breaks with traditional notions of law 
enforcement by moving from reactive responses to proactive problem 
solving, focusing on the causes of crime and disorder. Community-
oriented policing requires much more interaction on the neighborhood 
and community level than previous policing efforts.
  In Arkansas, we have been able to hire over 1,300 additional officers 
with the $83 million we have received. We have also used that money to 
combat methamphetamine use and to implement the COPS Program in 
schools.
  A February 3 article in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, my State's 
largest newspaper, stated the reason given by this administration for 
cutting funding is that COPS has ``not produced conclusive results in 
lowering crime.''
  I speak today not only as a Senator, but also as the former chief law 
enforcement officer of Arkansas, and I wholeheartedly disagree with 
this administration's assessment of these very important programs.
  I have worked closely with law enforcement officers of my State to 
make Arkansas a safer place and a better place to raise a family. They 
are strong leaders in their communities and demonstrate the character 
and the courage that define us as a nation. Together, we are able to 
keep over 1,000 criminals off the street due to their work on the front 
lines.

  Oftentimes, these police officers work in smaller rural communities. 
They operate under tighter budgets with smaller staffs than most of 
their urban counterparts. Nonetheless, they put their lives on the line 
every single day. They make real differences in people's lives, and 
they do it with professionalism and an attitude of public service. They 
do it because it is the right thing to do. They do not do it because it 
is easy or because it is pleasant, and, Lord knows, they do not do it 
for the money. They are not asking for much in return.
  I wish to take this time to thank all law enforcement officials for 
the work they do. I especially thank Sheriff Marty Montgomery of 
Faulkner County, Sheriff Ron Ball of Hot Spring County, and Sheriff 
Chuck Lange of the Arkansas Sheriffs' Association. They are in 
Washington today as part of their national association's meeting. I 
thank them not only for their commitment to public service and to 
keeping our communities safer--combined they have 87 years of law 
enforcement experience--but I also thank them for sharing with me their 
insights into the COPS Program and helping to demonstrate just how 
important the program is to them and other local law enforcement.
  You see, Mr. President, to them, this funding could mean the 
difference between life and death. This past Saturday at 7:30 p.m., 
Faulkner County sheriff's deputy, Brad Brocker, was called to 
investigate a suspicious person call in a high drug-use area. When 
Deputy Brocker arrived on the scene, he was met with three bullets to 
the heart in the upper chest. Luckily, he was wearing his bulletproof 
vest, but he risked his life to make his community and, yes, even his 
Nation, safer and better. But there is more to the story.
  The Kevlar vest he was wearing was paid for by Federal grant money, 
and Deputy Brocker was originally hired as a deputy under the COPS 
Program. Putting this Federal money back into our communities works. In 
fact, Faulkner County, with its 90,000 citizens and spanning 700 square 
miles, has used COPS funding to hire 12 officers in the past few years. 
Twelve may not sound like a lot, but it constitutes half of the 
Faulkner County sheriff's police force. It has made a difference.
  In the last 7 years, the arrest rates for burglary, robbery, and 
methamphetamine production have all gone up. Any one of my colleagues 
who lives in a rural State can surely tell you about their problems 
with the use and the production of methamphetamine. It has become an 
epidemic throughout rural America.
  Last year alone, the Faulkner County Sheriff's Office seized 44 labs 
and shut them down for good. Sheriff Montgomery is proud of that 
accomplishment, as he should be, but he warns that by cutting law 
enforcement programs, such as COPS, the steps they have taken forward 
will be lost, and they cannot sustain the manpower and law enforcement 
presence in their county.
  I believe we have a duty to support legislation, programs, and 
budgets to address the challenges facing law enforcement agencies in 
rural areas in Arkansas and all across the country, in communities such 
as Malvern, a small city in southwest Arkansas. Richard Taft is the 
police chief of the Malvern Police Department. Mr. Taft has 32 years of 
experience in law enforcement and 10 years as Malvern's police chief. 
When Chief Taft took over in 1993, the Malvern police force consisted 
of 14 people responsible for protecting a city of over 10,000 citizens. 
As Chief Taft put it to me one day: I didn't have enough officers to 
protect my officers, much less the citizens of Malvern.

  In 1993, according to Chief Taft, crime was rampant. Robberies, 
drive-by shootings, and burglaries occurred on a weekly basis. Since 
instituting the COPS Program and utilizing its grant funding, crime is 
down. The Malvern police force today is 22 people strong. With the 
additional manpower, Malvern has assembled a special crime team with 
the ability to respond to critical incidents, including chemical spills 
and missing persons. They did not have that ability before. COPS 
funding has allowed the Malvern Police Department to free up some of 
their money for other necessities, such as computers and radios.
  Chief Taft says:

       Without the COPS Program, I wouldn't have a police force.

  Yet this administration says there is no conclusive evidence that the 
COPS Program works? I disagree with that. More importantly, there are 
scores of law enforcement officials who would also stand up to dispute 
that claim.
  In 1993, Little Rock, AR, had the highest violent crime rate per 
capita in the country. By working with the Federal Government, using 
the COPS Program, and their own additional hires, the Little Rock 
Police Department bolstered their force and violent crime has dropped 
by 60 percent.
  Chuck Lange, the head of the Arkansas Sheriffs' Association, knows 
the significant impact the COPS Program has had statewide--and I am 
sure sheriffs in other States can tell you the same thing--by putting 
more police officers on the street. He knows that more officers have 
helped shorten response time. That is especially important in sprawling 
rural communities. He knows that time is not a luxury afforded to crime 
victims. I know it as

[[Page S2983]]

well. It may be because my grandfather, my great-grandfather, and my 
great-great-grandfather were all sheriffs of Ouachita County.
  Hot Spring Sheriff Ron Ball told me that in his county the COPS 
Program has enabled him to direct more time and resources to curbing 
domestic violence.
  He knows that if his department doesn't do a better job of protecting 
the abused, they have nowhere else to turn.
  And these law enforcement officers all know and have all told me that 
if we let these drastic COPS funding cuts stand, rural America will 
suffer.
  The list of law enforcement officials opposed to these cuts is long, 
but the opposition is not only limited to law enforcement. There are 
many mayors, community activists, and school administrators who also 
realize the importance of this program; school administrators like Dr. 
Benny Gooden.
  Dr. Gooden is the superintendent of schools in Fort Smith, AR. He 
oversees 26 schools with 12,500 students. Dr. Gooden knows how 
successful the COPS in Schools program has been. He knows that COPS is 
an asset to this community and to his schools. The presence of 
friendly, approachable police officers, known as School Resource 
Officers, on their campuses and in their neighborhoods has had a 
calming effect on Fort Smith schools.
  Since the implementation of the COPS program in Fort Smith schools, 
Dr. Gooden has witnessed a decline in violent incidents. Over the past 
few years suspensions have decreased by 65 percent. Expulsions have 
been reduced by 80 percent. The drop-out rate has been cut in half.
  When talking about the positive effect of the COPS in Schools 
program, Dr. Gooden calls it a powerful relationship; a win-win for 
both the schools and the community. Because the police officers are in 
the community and in the schools and are connected to the students and 
their families, officers can better identify and proactively defuse any 
potential problems there may be.
  Often times problems that are found in schools begin in the 
neighborhood and in the home. Police officers in Fort Smith recognize 
this and are in a better position to resolve such problems.
  Dr. Gooden has also witnessed, first-hand, the affirmative impact of 
this program on a child's educational experience. The officers interact 
with students. Some officers have offices in the schools. They are 
invited to school activities. These officers do not just show up when 
there is trouble, they are positive role models for Fort Smith's 
children and are involved in their lives. They spend time with students 
and in the community when there is no trouble and that presence, can 
make all the difference.
  These positive results are not limited to Fort Smith nor are they 
only appreciated by the administrators. As Arkansas Attorney General, I 
spent a lot of time in schools talking to our young people, and move 
importantly listening. Over and over the students told me how much they 
liked having School Resource Officers on campus. It made them feel 
safer, it provided a needed role model and it oftentimes provided an 
adult they could talk to. It showed our children that their community 
cared about them and gave them a much better perspective on law 
enforcement.
  We must also not forget the importance of these police officers as an 
integral part of our homeland defense and as first responders in the 
case of terrorist attacks. September 11 changed a lot of things for our 
country. It woke us to the need of genuine partnerships that involve 
all segments of our communities, and all levels of government. We all 
have a role in keeping our community safe, and overall when we talk 
about homeland security, we need to give serious thought to our law 
enforcement needs.
  Unfortunately, we saw how September 11 strained the resources, and 
the budgets, of many towns and cities. The administration's law 
enforcement budget does not help that problem. Our civilian authorities 
must be able to respond to whatever may confront them in the future, 
but how can they properly respond, when they are given a budget that 
cuts deep into their existence? The irony is that I have heard 
Secretary Ridge speak many times about how important local law 
enforcement agencies are to homeland security, but at the very moment 
when our Nation needs them most, we are drastically cutting assistance 
to them.
  The Federal Government must ensure that local governments are given 
the resources to complete their task and that we share the 
responsibilities for homeland security wisely and fairly. I know that 
Democrats and Republicans alike agree with this. I know Secretary Ridge 
agrees with this. I know that President Bush agrees with this.
  President Bush said on February 20 regarding the 2003 omnibus 
appropriations that he was concerned that the Congress had failed to 
provide over $1 billion in funds for State and local law enforcement 
and emergency personnel. He went on to lament that the shortfall for 
homeland security first responder programs was more than $2.2 billion.
  For the record, I share President Bush's concern, but shortchanging 
our local law enforcement efforts by under funding the critical, 
popular and effective COPS program is not the answer. I take a line 
from Chief Taft of the Malvern Police Department put it best when he 
said: ``Doing away with the COPS Program, when we are so concerned with 
homeland security is the wrong thing to do.'' I could not agree more.
  Much is made of the word ``hero.'' Before September 11, to pick up a 
magazine or to put on the television, hero was synonymous with 
professional athletes, movie stars, or musicians. But September 11 
reminded us that real heroes are right in our own backyard. While 
everyone was rushing out of the World Trade Center, EMT, firefighters 
and police officers were rushing in. That is the definition of 
``hero.''
  Local law enforcement officers protect our communities, our homes and 
our families from the threat of violent crime. Simply put, they stand 
up for justice. I believe we must do more to stand up for them. They 
need funding to do their jobs properly and deliver the same quality 
service that our citizens expect and deserve, whether they live in New 
York City, or Des Arc, AR.
  During the upcoming budget debate, I will support increasing funding 
for the COPS program and other law enforcement programs. I would urge 
my colleagues to do the same. I also plan to be a proud co-sponsor of 
Senator Joe Biden's legislation to reauthorize the COPS program.
  We need to build on what we know works and develop initiatives that 
respond to the law enforcement needs of our communities. The COPS 
program works and deserves adequate funding. These communities who 
benefit from this program deserve it as well.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Graham of South Carolina). The Senator 
from Tennessee.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I rise to congratulate the Senator from 
Arkansas on what I believe is his first speech on the floor of the 
Senate since his election. It is a privilege to serve with him, the 
Senator from South Carolina, and the Senator from New Hampshire in the 
new class of Senators in the 108th Congress.
  It is appropriate that the Senator would choose for his subject law 
enforcement because of his distinguished career as the chief law 
enforcement officer of Arkansas and having had members of the law 
enforcement community in his family for many years. He comes to the 
floor with a record of distinguished service from a distinguished 
family whose father is a close friend of many who have served in the 
Senate with distinction for many years.
  My colleagues and I congratulate him on his first speech. We look 
forward to many years of service with him.
  Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I thank the distinguished Senator from 
Tennessee for his kind words and express to him once again, as I have 
done privately and personally, I look forward to working with him on 
the issues that are so important to him, whether they be education or 
whatever they may be. It is an honor to serve with him.

                          ____________________