I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 381 

To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to 

provide for grants to increase the number of law enforcement officers 

on the streets by 5 to 10 percent in areas with high incidences of 

violent crime. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 20, 2011 

Ms. LEE of California introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets 

Act of 1968 to provide for grants to increase the number 

of law enforcement officers on the streets by 5 to 10 

percent in areas with high incidences of violent crime. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Enhanced Violent 

5 Crime Community Policing Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) According to the U.S. Department of Jus2 tice, from Fiscal Year 1995 to Fiscal Year 2000, the 

3 COPS program funded 105,000 police officers. 

4 (2) According to the Government Accountability 

5 Office, the COPS program has contributed to a 2.5 

6 percent decline in the violent crime rate between 

7 1999 and 2000. 

8 (3) According to University of Chicago econo9 mist Steven Levitt, each 10 percent increase in the 

10 size of a police force reduces violent crime by 4 per11 cent and property crime by 5 percent. 

12 (4) A study by University of Maryland econo13 mists William Evans and Emily Owens suggests that 

14 a 2 percent increase in police officers put on the 

15 streets through the COPS program led to a 2 per16 cent decline in violent crime. 

17 (5) Economists David Anderson of Centre Col18 lege and Mark Cohen of Vanderbilt University sug19 gest that the total cost of crime in the United States 

20 is approximately $2,000,000,000, annually, and that 

21 each additional dollar provided to the COPS pro22 gram may generate $4.00 to $8.50 in savings to the 

23 Nation by reducing crimes committed and the over24 all cost of crime. 


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1 (6) According to the U.S. Department of Jus2 tice Census of State and Local Law Enforcement 

3 Agencies, 20 of the Nation’s 50 largest local police 

4 departments saw a decline in sworn law enforcement 

5 personnel from 2000 to 2004. 

6 (7) Following a 10-year decline in the violent 

7 crime rate, Federal Bureau of Investigation’s statis8 tics indicate that violent crime increased in 2004, 

9 2005, and 2006. 

10 (8) In recent months, incidences of violent 

11 crime, gang violence, violence against police officers, 

12 and homicides have risen in many of the metropoli13 tan areas in the United States, including the fol14 lowing: 

15 (A) On March 21, 2009, four Oakland, 

16 California, police officers were shot and killed 

17 during a traffic stop and the subsequent pur18 suit of the suspect. 

19 (B) On April 4, 2009, three Pittsburgh, 

20 Pennsylvania, police officers were killed re21 sponding to a domestic dispute. 

22 (C) On April 3, 2009, a Binghamton, New 

23 York, man killed himself and 13 others at a 

24 local civic association building. 


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1 SEC. 3. ENHANCED VIOLENT CRIME COMMUNITY POLICY. 

2 Section 1701 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 

3 Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796dd) is amended— 

4 (1) in subsection (b)— 

5 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon 

6 in paragraph (16); 

7 (B) by redesignating paragraph (17) as 

8 paragraph (18), and in such paragraph, by 

9 striking ‘‘(1) through (16)’’ and inserting ‘‘(1) 

10 through (17)’’; and 

11 (C) by inserting after paragraph (16) the 

12 following new paragraph: 

13 ‘‘(17) to hire and train new career law enforce14 ment officers for deployment in areas and commu15 nities with high incidences of violent crime, in ac16 cordance with subsection (l); and’’; 

17 (2) by amending subsection (c) to read as fol18 lows: 

19 ‘‘(c) PREFERENTIAL CONSIDERATION.—In awarding 

20 grants under this part, the Attorney General— 

21 ‘‘(1) may give preferential consideration to ap22 plications for hiring and training new career law en23 forcement officers for deployment in areas and com24 munities with high incidences of violent crime, as 

25 authorized by paragraph (17) of subsection (b) and 

26 in accordance with subsection (l); and 


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1 ‘‘(2) may give preferential consideration, where 

2 feasible, to applications for hiring and rehiring addi3 tional career law enforcement officers that involve a 

4 non-Federal contribution exceeding the 25 percent 

5 minimum under subsection (g).’’; and 

6 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub7 section: 

8 ‘‘(l) ENHANCED VIOLENT CRIME COMMUNITY POLIC9 ING GRANTS.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General 

11 shall, subject to the availability of appropriations to 

12 carry out this subsection, make grants, as author13 ized under subsection (b)(17) and in accordance 

14 with this subsection, to hire and train new career 

15 law enforcement officers for deployment in areas and 

16 communities with high incidences of violent crime to 

17 enhance community policing in such areas. 

18 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—Notwithstanding 

19 subsection (a), grants awarded under this subsection 

20 shall be awarded only to units of local government. 

21 ‘‘(3) GRANT DESIGNATIONS.—The Attorney 

22 General shall award grants under this subsection 

23 to— 

24 ‘‘(A) the 5 units of local government with 

25 a population over 350,000 residents with the 


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1 highest violent crime rate per capita, as listed 

2 by the 2007 Federal Bureau of Investigation 

3 ‘Crime in the United States’ report; and 

4 ‘‘(B) 15 additional units of local govern5 ment determined by the Attorney General to 

6 have the greatest need for such a grant, based 

7 on— 

8 ‘‘(i) per capita violent crime rate; 

9 ‘‘(ii) gang population; 

10 ‘‘(iii) drug trafficking rate; 

11 ‘‘(iv) high school drop-out rate; 

12 ‘‘(v) unemployment rate; 

13 ‘‘(vi) poverty rate; 

14 ‘‘(vii) population; and 

15 ‘‘(viii) any other criteria determined 

16 by the Attorney General. 

17 ‘‘(4) GRANT AMOUNT.— 

18 ‘‘(A) MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM AMOUNT.— 

19 The grant amount awarded to an grantee under 

20 this subsection for the grant period shall be— 

21 ‘‘(i) not more than is necessary to in22 crease the size of the grantee’s sworn po23 lice force, as of the date the grantee sub24 mitted the application for a grant under 

25 this subsection, by 10 percent; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) not less than is necessary to in2 crease the size of the grantee’s sworn po3 lice force, as of the date the grantee sub4 mitted the application for a grant under 

5 this subsection, by 5 percent. 

6 ‘‘(B) RATABLE REDUCTION.—If funds ap7 propriated in a fiscal year to carry out this sub8 section are not sufficient to fully fund the min9 imum grant amount determined under subpara10 graph (A) for each grantee, the Attorney Gen11 eral shall reduce the amount of the grant to 

12 each grantee by a proportionate share. 

13 ‘‘(5) INAPPLICABLE PROVISIONS.—The fol14 lowing provisions of this part shall not apply to 

15 grants awarded under this subsection: 

16 ‘‘(A) Subsection (g) of this section (relat17 ing to matching funds). 

18 ‘‘(B) Subsection (i) of this section (relating 

19 to termination of grants for hiring officers). 

20 ‘‘(C) Subsection (c) of section 1704 (relat21 ing to hiring costs).’’. 

Æ 


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