The nation's largest organization of police executives said local police will be forced to lay off hundreds of officers next year if Congress accepts a Bush administration budget proposal that includes a $ 1.5 billion reduction in law enforcement assistance. It would be the first overall cut to local cops since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The proposed reductions in federal hiring and traditional crime-fighting programs in schools and neighborhoods come after local governments cut deeply into public safety budgets in the past two years and dropped thousands of officers from law enforcement across the nation.
In New York City, the police department has seen its force shrink by more than 3,000 officers in the past three years.
The prospect of additional layoffs at a time when some violent crimes have been rising and as local agencies are being asked to take on anti-terrorism responsibilities brought more than 70 uniformed members of the International Association of Chiefs of Police to Capitol Hill on Wednesday."Targeting law enforcement assistance programs for reductions of this magnitude has the potential to weaken our ability to protect our communities from traditional acts of crime and the new specter of terrorism," said the group's president, Joseph Polisar, police chief in Garden Grove, Calif.Polisar said local law enforcement was as deserving of the federal government's support as military combat troops deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Haiti and elsewhere around the globe. "Police are our front-line troops in protecting the homeland," he said.The proposed 2005 budget includes cuts of about $ 1 billion in assistance formerly administered by the Justice Department and another $ 500 million from the Department of Homeland Security."We're just now starting to see crime rates go back up. This would be the worst time to do this," said Ed Mosca, chief of the Old Saybrook, Conn., police department, referring to FBI statistics showing slight increases in murder, rape and burglaries the past two years.Local budget problems in other communities have already taken significant tolls.* Oregon State Police Superintendent Ronald Ruecker said he laid off 129 troopers last year from the 600-officer force and an additional 60% of the department's crime laboratory analysts. The superintendent was able to rehire almost 80% of the officers and analysts last year. But the laboratory cuts continue to cause delays of more than a month in returning forensic test results.* In Minneapolis, 38 positions were cut from the police department last year. The cuts forced some officers off neighborhood beats to cover emergency calls.Polisar said some departments are "stretched to the breaking point" because of anti-terror responsibilities.Justice Department spokesman Mark Corallo said the government has not abandoned local police. "We have focused on several key (programs) where we can have an impact," he said. Corallo said the $ 2 billion the Justice Department provides local governments has helped protect children from sexual exploitation and funds programs that target criminals who use guns.