II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1424 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 9, 2009 

Mrs. BOXER (for herself, Ms. STABENOW, and Mr. LEVIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 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 2009’’. 

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), by inserting after para5 graph (4) the following new paragraph: 

6 ‘‘(5) hire and train new career law enforcement 

7 officers for deployment in areas and communities 

8 with high incidences of violent crime, in accordance 

9 with subsection (j).’’; and 

10 (2) by amending subsection (c) to read as fol11 lows: 

12 ‘‘(c) PRIORITY AND PREFERENTIAL CONSIDER13 ATION.—In awarding grants under this part, the Attorney 

14 General— 

15 ‘‘(1) may give preferential consideration to ap16 plications for hiring and training new career law en17 forcement officers for deployment in areas and com18 munities with high incidences of violent crime, as 

19 authorized by paragraph (5) of subsection (b) and in 

20 accordance with subsection (j); and 

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

22 feasible, to applications for hiring and rehiring addi23 tional career law enforcement officers that involve a 

24 non-Federal contribution exceeding the 25 percent 

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


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1 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub2 section: 

3 ‘‘(j) ENHANCED VIOLENT CRIME COMMUNITY POLIC4 ING GRANTS.— 

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

6 shall, subject to the availability of appropriations to 

7 carry out this subsection, make grants, as author8 ized under subsection (b)(5) and in accordance with 

9 this subsection, to hire and train new career law en10 forcement officers for deployment in areas and com11 munities with high incidences of violent crime to en12 hance community policing in such areas. 

13 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—Notwithstanding 

14 subsection (a), grants awarded under this subsection 

15 shall be awarded only to units of local government. 

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

17 General shall award grants under this subsection 

18 to— 

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

20 a population over 350,000 residents with the 

21 highest violent crime rate per capita as listed by 

22 the 2007 Federal Bureau of Investigation 

23 ‘Crime in the United States’ report; and 

24 ‘‘(B) 15 additional units of local govern25 ment determined by the Attorney General to 


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1 have the greatest need for such a grant, based 

2 on— 

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

4 ‘‘(ii) gang population; 

5 ‘‘(iii) drug trafficking rate; 

6 ‘‘(iv) high school drop-out rate; 

7 ‘‘(v) unemployment rate; 

8 ‘‘(vi) poverty rate; 

9 ‘‘(vii) population; and 

10 ‘‘(viii) any other criteria determined 

11 by the Attorney General. 

12 ‘‘(4) GRANT AMOUNT.— 

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

14 The grant amount awarded to an grantee under 

15 this subsection for the grant period shall be— 

16 ‘‘(i) not more than is necessary to in17 crease the size of the grantee’s sworn po18 lice force, as of the date the grantee sub19 mitted the application for a grant under 

20 this subsection, by 10 percent; and 

21 ‘‘(ii) not less 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 5 percent. 


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1 ‘‘(B) RATABLE REDUCTION.—If funds ap2 propriated in a fiscal year to carry out this sub3 section are not sufficient to fully fund the min4 imum grant amount determined under subpara5 graph (A) for each grantee, the Attorney Gen6 eral shall reduce the amount of the grant to 

7 each grantee by a proportionate share. 

8 ‘‘(5) INAPPLICABLE PROVISIONS.—The fol9 lowing provisions of this part shall not apply to 

10 grants awarded under this subsection: 

11 ‘‘(A) Subsection (g) of this section (relat12 ing to matching funds). 

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

14 to termination of grants for hiring officers). 

15 ‘‘(C) Subsection (c) of section 1704 (relat16 ing to hiring costs).’’. 

Æ 


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