Vice President Biden, Attorney General Holder Announce Recovery Act Funding...

Vice President Biden, Attorney General Holder Announce Recovery Act Funding to Support Law Enforcement

Recovery Act Funds to Add Police Officers to the Streets; Build Safer Communities

Vice President Joe Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder today announced $1 billion in grants to fund the hiring and rehiring of law enforcement officers all across the country under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The grants will be awarded to 1,046 law enforcement agencies from all 50 states and will provide 100 percent of the approved salary and benefits for 4,699 officers for three years. Police departments receiving the grants will then be required to retain the grant-funded positions for a fourth year. Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, Delaware Governor Jack Markell, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey and law enforcement officers from mid-Atlantic states joined the Vice President and Attorney General at the event.

"A big part of the Recovery Act is about building communities – making them as strong as they can be, allowing every American family to live a better life than the one they are leading now," said Vice President Joe Biden. "And we can’t achieve the goal of stronger communities without supporting those who keep our streets safe."

The Recovery Act grants, which will be administered by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) through the federal agency’s COPS Hiring Recovery Program, provide much needed financial support to state, local and tribal governments, and will help the nation’s law enforcement agencies add and retain the manpower needed to fight crime more effectively through community policing. The Department of Justice received over 7,200 applications for more than 39,000 officer positions, representing a total of $8.3 billion in requested funding.

"These Recovery Act funds will pump much needed resources into communities through a program with a proven track record," said Attorney General Holder. "The tremendous demand for these grants is indicative of both the tough times our states, cities and tribes are facing, and the unyielding commitment by law enforcement to making our communities safer."

"Our sworn officers are the front line of defense against crime and disorder in our nation’s communities," said Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey. "These Recovery funds are essential in helping local law enforcement agencies fulfill their mission of making the places in which we all live and work as safe as possible."

The Recovery Act includes $4 billion in Department of Justice grant funding to enhance state, local, and tribal law enforcement efforts, including the hiring of new police officers, to combat violence against women, and to fight internet crimes against children. In addition to today’s COPS awards, to date the Department of Justice has awarded $1.7 billion through formula state and local Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grants, $95 million through the Victims of Crime Act Formula Grant Program, $41.5 million for Internet Crimes Against Children initiatives, $127 million in Office on Violence Against Women Recovery Act funds and $8.6 million for assistance for law enforcement along the Southern Border and in high intensity drug trafficking areas.

For more information about the COPS grants, or to learn which law enforcement agencies received funding, please visit www.cops.usdoj.gov.

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/speeches/2009/ag-speech-090728.html

Remarks by Attorney General Holder at the COPS Hiring Recovery Program Announcement

PHILADELPHIA, PA
Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Mr. Vice President, Governor Rendell, Governor Corzine, Governor Markell, Governor O’Malley, Mayor Nutter, Commissioner Ramsey and Associate Attorney General Perrelli - thank you all for being here.

It’s great to be back in Philadelphia. When I came to this city last month, I joined Governor and First Lady Rendell, as well as Mayor Nutter, Commissioner Ramsey and others to kickoff President Obama’s United We Serve Initiative.

We were joined that day by a number of men, women, and young people who have answered the call to volunteerism. At a time when jobs are hard to come by and families are struggling to make ends meet, Americans from every background are still finding the time to give of themselves to those who are less fortunate.

Just as the American people are facing economic hardships, state and local governments are feeling the strain of balancing their budgets with diminishing tax revenues. In some cases, they are faced with the unacceptable yet very real prospect of laying off law enforcement personnel, because there’s simply not enough money in the budget.

In the same spirit of those who are answering the President’s call to service, we are here today to help those who serve our communities every single day.

Today we have the pleasure of announcing a series of grants made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to help state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies hire and retain police officers. We are awarding $1 billion in Recovery Act grants through the Community Oriented Policing Services – or COPS – Hiring Recovery Program.

Nationally, this grant program will allow 1,046 law enforcement agencies in all fifty states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Mariana Islands, to hire or re-hire 4,699 officers. That means that police departments can add new officers or re-hire officers who have been or are scheduled to be laid off, as a result of local budget cuts.

These grants provide 100 percent of each officer’s salary and benefits for three full years. On top of that, police departments receiving the grants are required to retain the officer positions for a fourth year. So, we’re talking about 4,699 police officers throughout the country who will have jobs keeping our communities safe for at least four years. That is an incredible accomplishment.

And these officers will go directly to the places they are needed most. These funds are focused on hiring officers who will be on the streets, in our neighborhoods, and on the front lines of our fight to keep the American people safe. And let us not forget: keeping brave and well-trained police officers employed is also good for our economy. These grants not only represent 4,699 men and women across our country fighting crime, but also 4,699 men and women who will be able to make house and car payments, make ends meet, and save for their children’s future.

Of course, with such an incredible program, it’s no surprise that the number of grant requests was overwhelming. We received applications from more than 7,000 cities and towns, and made funding decisions based on crime rate, financial need, and community policing activities. The thousands of applications that poured in are indicative of both the tough times our states, cities and tribes are facing and the unyielding commitment by law enforcement to making our communities safer. I’m proud to be a part of an administration that backs up the commitment of our law enforcement community not just with words, but with the resources our partners need.

These COPS grants we are announcing today help fulfill President Obama and Vice President Biden’s commitment to meet the challenges of our struggling economy with solutions that will keep our country safe and keep us moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Vice President, for getting these much needed resources into communities through a program with a proven track record.

I’d also be remiss if I didn’t take this opportunity to thank the hardworking men and women in our COPS office. With so many applicants streaming in, we had originally estimated that we would be able to make these awards by the end of September. But at a meeting in June, the President called on the cabinet to get the funds out the door as quickly as possible, and I pledged that the Department would award these COPS grants by mid-summer. Luckily I had the support of the incredible professionals in the COPS office to make this possible. Thanks to their hard work, we’ve been able to move these funds into the hands of law enforcement sooner than originally expected.

Most importantly, however, I’d like to thank the brave men and women who sacrifice every day to keep our streets safe, and whose service we honor today with this much needed support. $1 billion is an incredible investment, but everyone standing on this stage knows we can never support you enough for your hard work and sacrifice.

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For me, this is bittersweet, as I thought that the ONLY silver lining with Obama was that he might put the race issue behind us, for ALL of us, for good!

I agree 100%! Sorry.. .this one got me on the stump! Here I go!

This was the ONE great issue Obama had a chance to put the final nail in, and some would say that just his being elected did some good in that regard. But he has thrown away that great opportunity to fill the shoes of Dr. Martin Luther King, and continue King's legacy of uniting all people, judging people by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin. He has completely flushed that opportunity down the proverbial toilet. And this is a terrible shame.

Obama turns out to be a shallow man, very shallow. Dr. King would not have accepted a desk for the Oval Office made out of slave ship wood, an object that would seem to send a message: "Payback for slavery is around the corner, whitey!" Dr. King, I believe, would have been a much bigger man than that, and he would have seen this opportunity for what it is.

We can certainly sit around spanking ourselves all day for the sins of our fathers, a perfect waste of time, or we can spend our time achieving good education standards and a strong economy that empowers all of us to enjoy the American Dream.

Slavery wasn't invented in America... it was invented in Africa, and practiced by most of the European powers during that time in history. Slavery and social injustice have left an ugly stain on every continent. But here in America, we act as if our own country was the only one to have done any wrong, committed any unjust act, and therefore our country is worthy of being tossed into the dustbin of history.

I actually heard a young black man say a few weeks ago: "It's ok to hate my country because the Founders had slaves." While there is certainly some truth behind it, where on Earth is the place where slavery was never practiced? Is it OK to hate Africa, too? Because forms of slavery still exist there today.

We will not toss out the baby with the bath water, or cut off our nose to spite our face. We have been given a tremendous gift, a Constitutional Republic, that guarantees the greatest amount of freedom and provides the greatest economic opportunity of any government on Earth. We will be fools to destroy that great gift, based on some injustice that our parents, grandparents, or even great grandparents suffered in the past.

This ideology of victimhood is what Obama could have laid to rest. In so doing, he would have freed black Americans from the bondage of victimhood and empowered them to achieve the American Dream. He could have healed this country in so many ways. But that task must be left for another black President, on some other day. It will probably take a black REPUBLICAN to get the job done.

And we will know when that wise and mature President has arrived, because he or she will be willing to sit down with Clarence Thomas and Condi Rice, but I'll bet Obama is so shallow of a partisan politician that he can't even bring himself to have a beer with them.

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