Res. No. 873
Resolution denouncing any budgetary reduction in federal homeland security funding and programs for hiring police officers.
By Council Members Vallone Jr., Addabbo Jr., Fidler, Gentile, Gerson, Nelson, Reyna and Weprin
Whereas, President Bush’s proposed $2.57 trillion budget for Fiscal Year 2006 would eliminate or drastically reduce more than 150 government-wide programs; and
Whereas, The proposed budget cuts include more than $1 billion in loss of funding for vital law enforcement assistance programs that state, local, tribal and university police agencies rely on to protect their communities from crime and terrorism; and
Whereas, Funding for the U.S. Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), which provides grants to communities to hire police officers, would be reduced from $499 million to $22 million, greatly hindering community policing efforts; and
Whereas, Since the 1994 establishment of COPS, several programs such as Accelerated Hiring, Education and Deployment (AHEAD), Phase 1 and the Universal Hiring Program (UHP) provided communities with the resources to hire additional community policing personnel; and
Whereas, Over the past decade, these programs provided direct, flexible funding to more than 13,000 communities across the nation and facilitated the hiring of 117,000 new police officers; and
Whereas, In New York City, the programs have placed 7,000 much needed officers on the streets, and with the President’s proposed budget cut, the city is expected to lose an estimated $70 million, enough to hire more than 900 new police officers; and
Whereas, According to Joseph Estey, president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), “This budget cuts funding for critical law enforcement assistance programs by 90 percent, forcing many departments to continue using antiquated and inefficient communications equipment and others to lay off officers”; and
Whereas, A 2003 report of the House Committee on Commerce, Justice and State noted that the Federal Bureau of Investigation “is diverting resources away from traditional crime-fighting to strengthen its counter terrorism capabilities, leaving a void that only state and local law enforcement are positioned to fill”; and
Whereas, With state and local law enforcement agencies at the forefront in the war against crime and terrorism, it is imperative that the federal government ensure that these agencies are adequately equipped with appropriate capabilities and staffing levels by maintaining current homeland security and law enforcement programs that fund these endeavors; now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York denounces any budgetary reduction in federal homeland security funding and programs for hiring police officers.
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