Kagen Puts New Cops on the Street in Northeast Wisconsin
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KAGEN PUTS NEW COPS ON THE STREET
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April 27, 2009 |
| Washington, DC — Congressman Steve Kagen, M.D. is working hard to give our public safety agencies the recruits and tools they need to keep us safe. Kagen voted for the COPS Improvements Act which calls for putting 50,000 additional police officers on the street nationwide over the next 5 years, including 91 police officers in the 8th Congressional District and 576 across Wisconsin, according to estimates from the United States Department of Justice based on past allocations. It also authorizes funds for COPS technology grants and hiring community prosecutors.
“What we need in Northeast Wisconsin are jobs, jobs and more jobs. The COPS program will create jobs in our area and protect our communities,” said Kagen. “Our police officers keep us safe each and every day and I am working hard to secure for them the best recruits and the best resources possible.” The COPS Program (Community Oriented Policing Services) was created in 1994 and helped local law enforcement agencies to hire 117,000 additional police officers, in every state in the union, from 1995 to 2005. Under the COPS program, our nation experienced a significant drop in crime rates – and independent studies confirm that COPS hiring grants helped contribute to this reduced crime. “As we build a better future, we must invest our hard-earned tax dollars right here at home – not overseas. I am proud to support this effort to make our neighborhoods safer,” said the Congressman. The recent economic downturn has led to both rises in certain types of crime and cutbacks in state and local funding for law enforcement across the country. A recent survey of more than 200 police departments by the Police Executive Research Forum found that 44 percent of police departments surveyed report increases in certain types of crime that they believe is a result of the economic downturn. Congressman Kagen has consistently supported local law enforcement. Kagen recently secured funding in the 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act for the construction of a relay tower that will expand the communications capabilities of Brown County police, fire and rescue operations and a Mobile Computer System for the Waupaca County Sheriffs Department. |
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