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virginia agencies receive $5.1M
Date published: 7/29/2009
By MARYCLAIRE DALE ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
PHILADELPHIA --A $1 billion stimulus program to keep cops on the streets was praised yesterday as a heavenly blessing in places like tiny Anguilla, Miss.--while New York City and other places that got nothing cursed their luck.Vice President Joe Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder said the money from the Community Oriented Policing Services program, called COPS, was sent to places with the highest crime rates and the biggest budgetary problems. "These officers will go to where they are needed most," Holder said. The high demand for aid--from more than 7,000 agencies--is indicative of the tough economic times they are facing, the attorney general said. That was little comfort to those who didn't get COPS money, like New York, Pittsburgh, Houston, Seattle and Phoenix. Those cities were among the roughly 6,000 applications rejected. For every $1 to be delivered, another $7 in requests will go unanswered under the stimulus package grant program. Biden called paying cops' salaries "a moral obligation," and said cities left out of funding now will get other money from a different federal grant program. New York City had asked for almost $650 million from the COPS program. It got zero. Local lawmakers of both parties called the decision a disgrace and an outrage. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent, said the federal government has a "perverse" inclination to send money to failing programs, instead of ones that work. Trying to put the best face on the brush-off from the federal government, Bloomberg called the lack of COPS money a "compliment" because the Obama administration recognized the city's low crime rate and balanced budget. In Pittsburgh, police chief Nate Harper said he was disappointed but proud of the reasons he's not getting help. "I'd rather have a safe city than have to depend on stimulus money," Harper said. "It is a good thing that the city crime stats are down," but he called it a "sour note" that lower crime means less money from Washington. For the three-person police squad in Anguilla, Miss., the extra money is a godsend. "This is a blessing from the sky," Assistant Police Chief Roy Sias said. The grant will help them hire one full-time and one part-time officer, he said. Governors and mayors who are getting the help were grateful. "Thank goodness, thank goodness, that we are doing something not only to save jobs but to protect communities across America," said Jon Corzine, the Democratic governor of New Jersey at the announcement in Philadelphia.
Read more stories about Stafford Date published: 7/29/2009
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