[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 11562-11563]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 PRELIMINARY 2005 UNIFORM CRIME REPORT

  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I rise today to talk about a very sobering 
report just issued by our FBI--its Preliminary 2005 Uniform Crime 
Report. This is the gold standard of crime reports in our country, 
taken from statistics by more than 12,000 law enforcement agencies all 
across our country.
  Here is what the report says: Murders are up 4.8 percent. This means 
that there were 16,900 victims in 2005--16,900 in a single year. This 
is the most murders since 1998 and the largest percentage increase in 
15 years. Violent crime more generally, which also includes forcible 
rape, robbery, and aggravated assault, rose 2 percent after seeing 
decreases over the last 3 years.
  Some areas of the country were especially hard hit. The Midwest, for 
example, saw violent crime rise 5.7 percent. Medium-large towns--those 
with populations between half a million and 1 million--saw an increase 
in violent crime of 8.3 percent. Murders increased more than 12 percent 
in towns with populations between 50,000 and 250,000. These troubling 
increases come after more than a decade of record decreases in crime.
  These historic decreases in crime happened for a reason and, I fear, 
the recent and dramatic increase in murders and violent crime are also 
happening for a reason.
  Let me explain. In 1994, we passed the most sweeping anticrime bill 
in history. At the time, we faced a national crisis with respect to 
violent crime. Despite the tough-on-crime rhetoric of the 1980s, the 
Federal Government until that point had very little impact on crime 
rates. This is largely because only about 3 percent of all crimes are 
handled by the Federal Government.
  We recognized in 1994 that the only way to seriously address crime in 
our communities would be to vigorously and consistently support State 
and local law enforcement. We made a commitment to do just that by 
creating the Community Oriented Policing Services Program--more 
commonly known as COPS.
  This ambitious new program committed to put more than 100,000 new 
officers on the streets and to expand the concept of community-oriented 
policing. Crime rates went down every year for 8 consecutive years. 
Violent crime was reduced by 26 percent. The murder rate went down by 
34 percent.
  In just a few short years, Americans went from being afraid to go out 
on their streets to living in the safest neighborhoods in a generation. 
By giving State and local law enforcement the support they needed, we 
were able to improve the lives of millions of Americans.
  I recognize there are many factors involved in whether crime rates go 
up and down and that the COPS Program was not the sole reason for this 
historic drop in violent crime. At the same time, the legacy of COPS is 
unmistakable. The Government Accountability Office, GAO, released a 
report in October 2005 that concluded what many police chiefs and 
sheriffs have said all along--the COPS Program helps reduce crime. 
Specifically, the GAO found that ``as a demonstration of whether a 
federal program can affect crime rates through hiring officers and 
changing policing practices, the evidence indicates that COPS 
contributed to declines in crime above the levels of declines that 
would have been expected without it.'' For every $1 in COPS hiring 
grant expenditures per capita, there was a reduction of almost 30 index 
crimes per 100,000 persons.
  Former Attorney General John Ashcroft called the COPS Program a 
``miraculous success.'' But, unfortunately, I fear that some of us have 
taken our eyes off the ball. Specifically, the Bush administration has 
forgotten the lessons we learned from the COPS Program. Despite the 
dramatic and historic COPS successes, President Bush has systematically 
eliminated the programs that helped to lay the foundation for our low 
crime rates.
  President Bush has proposed to cut support for State and local law 
enforcement every year for the past 5 years, proposing a budget in 2007 
that cut $2 billion in guaranteed funding for State and local law 
enforcement from the amount we provided only 5 years ago. President 
Bush has steadily tried to kill the COPS hiring program, routinely 
trying to zero out all hiring funding.
  And Congress has not held the line. During the 1990s, roughly $1 
billion per year was allocated for the COPS Program. In 2002, $385 
million was allocated to hire officers. That allocation was steadily 
reduced until last year when, for the first time, funding to hire 
officers was completely eliminated. Let me repeat: No Federal COPS 
funding whatsoever to hire officers. Adding insult to injury, President 
Bush has also proposed to zero out the Byrnes Justice Assistance Grant 
Program.
  From 1994 to 2003, this wildly popular program provided around $900 
million per year to our States to improve their criminal justice 
systems, providing vital resources to our men and women officers. Since 
2003, this number has steadily eroded, with President Bush proposing 
absolutely no funding in his 2007 budget request. And I fear that we 
are now seeing the results of this vast defunding of the COPS Program 
and the Byrne Program--a result that was certainly not unpredictable.
  Earlier this year, in response to the President's latest budget 
request, the President of the International Association of Chiefs of 
Police, Mary Ann Viverette, stated: ``these cuts have the potential to 
cripple the capabilities of law enforcement agencies nationwide and 
will undoubtedly force many departments to take officers off the 
streets, leading to more crime and violence in our hometowns and 
ultimately less security for our homeland.''
  Many of us in Congress have also tried to raise the warning flags 
repeatedly. This February, I released a report entitled, ``Abandoning 
the Front Line: The Bush Administration's Record of Support for State 
and Local Law Enforcement'' which warned that we need to keep our eye 
on the ball, otherwise we risk seeing dramatic increases in crime 
rates.
  Another problem facing our local law enforcement agencies is the fact 
that the FBI is getting out of the crime business. Since 9/11, the 
number of FBI agents focusing on crime has gone down by over 1,000 
agents. As a result, drug investigations have dropped by 60 percent and 
violent crime investigations have been reduced by 40 percent.
  This has created a perfect storm for law enforcement, and I hope that 
these latest dramatic and troubling crime statistics serve as a wake-up 
call to Congress and the President.
  We must build on the successes of the past; we must never become 
complacent. When I speak to law enforcement groups on the subject of 
crime, I make the point that keeping crime rates low is like cutting 
the grass. You mow your lawn and it looks great. You let it grow for a 
week, and it starts looking ragged. You let it grow for a month and you 
have a jungle.
  The preliminary numbers released yesterday show that we have not been 
cutting the grass. In Cleveland, from 1994 to 2001, we spent $3.2 
million per year for COPS hiring. From 2002 to 2005, we only spent 
$875,500 per year. A 2004 news article noted that Cleveland lost 250 
officers, a reduction of 15 percent in their force. In their latest 
crime numbers, murder is up 38 percent; violent crime is up 7 percent. 
In St. Louis, from 1994 to 2001, we spend $770,000 per year for COPS 
hiring. From 2002 to 2005, that number was zero. A 2003 study found 
that St. Louis had lost 168 officers, a reduction of 11 percent in 
their force. In their latest crime numbers murder is up 16 percent, 
violent crime up 20 percent. The pattern is, unfortunately, clear.
  In Philadelphia from 1994 to 2001, we spent $5,250,000 per year for 
COPS hiring. From 2002 to 2995, that number was again zero, Last year, 
I asked the Philadelphia police chief about the number of officers they 
have lost recently. He said since 2003, they were

[[Page 11563]]

down 600 officers. In Philadelphia's latest crime numbers, murder is up 
14.2 percent, violent crime up 3.4 percent.
  Now is the time to see the error in our recent ways. It is my hope 
that the Appropriations, Commerce, Justice, and Science Subcommittee 
will see fit to fully fund the COPS Program, the Justice assistance 
grants, and other critical crime control programs when it reports out 
its appropriations bill later this summer. If they do not, I will be 
offering an amendment to restore full funding for the COPS Program. I 
have done this for the past several years.
  The Senate has previously not adopted my amendments, however--with 
opponents arguing that the COPS Program has worked, so we should kill 
it, or that it is not a Federal responsibility to fund local law 
enforcement. Critics will also argue that adding funding to the COPS 
Program will bust the budget.
  I believe that the safety of the American citizens is our No. 1 
priority, and I cannot accept the argument that we cannot find funding 
for local law enforcement at the same time we are giving a tax cut to 
our nation's millionaires. They did not ask for this tax cut, and I 
know that they would be willing to give that back in order to keep 
their communities safer.
  The COPS Program helps us prevent both crime and terrorism, and I 
hope my colleagues will support me in restoring funding for this 
critical program.

                          ____________________