Murphy Supports Legislation to Put More Cops on Connecticut's Streets

Press Release

Murphy Supports Legislation to Put More Cops on Connecticut's Streets

This week, Congressman Chris Murphy (CT-5) spoke in favor of and voted for legislation to potentially add more than 100 police officers to the streets of the Fifth District.

"The small cities of Connecticut's Fifth District may not rival the size of those of neighboring districts, but they still have the same need for vigorous, community-based law enforcement. This week, we began to revitalize a program to keep our communities safe," said Murphy.

This week, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1700, the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Reauthorization Act. This action puts COPS back on track after the Republican-led Congress eliminated this program in 2006. This legislation could put more than 50,000 police officers on the job across the country, and could increase the number of COPS-funded officers in the Fifth District of Connecticut by almost 50%.

Under the COPS hiring grants program, the nation experienced a significant drop in crime rates. According to a study from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, between 1998 and 2000, COPS hiring grants were responsible for reducing crimes across the country by about 200,000 to 225,000 crimes - one third of which were violent. The study concluded, "COPS-funded increases in sworn officers per capita were associated with declines in rates of total index crimes, violent crimes, and property crime."

Yet President Bush and Republicans in Congress eliminated the hiring program last year and, at the same time, violent crime has spiked across the nation. Earlier this year, the Police Executive Research Forum, a prominent law enforcement association, released a report which found that violent crimes rose over the last two years. Among the cities surveyed, since 2005, 71 percent had an increase in homicides, 80 percent saw robberies rise and 67 percent reported an increase in aggravated assaults with guns.

"For the last eight years, as I sat in my seat in the Connecticut state legislature, I watched the federal government walk away from its commitment to partner with states and towns to provide the funding necessary to keep our communities safe. In Connecticut, our law enforcement community is the pride of our communities, but they have been forced of late to do more with less. This bill will provide for the safety of our communities," said Murphy.

This legislation has been endorsed by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Sheriffs Association, the Fraternal Order of Police, the National Association of Police Organizations, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and the National League of Cities.

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