Nevada’s largest police organization is protesting a Republican plan to terminate a federal grant program long popular with local law enforcement agencies, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The Las Vegas Police Protective Association sought to pressure Reps. Joe Heck and Dean Heller, both Nevada Republicans, on the proposed GOP move to slash the COPS program. The cut to COPS “would be devastating for the law enforcement community in Nevada and across the country,” said Chris Collins, association president.
Since the program was initiated during the Clinton administration, Collins said Nevada enforcement agencies have received $69.8 million. COPS grants have funded 456 officers and sheriffs deputies, and allowed for the purchase of computers and communications equipment “that allow officers to spend more time on the streets.” The House Appropriations Committee included COPS this week in a partial list of 70 spending cuts to be written into a bill funding the government for the remainder of fiscal 2011. The House will vote on that bill next week, and could cut even more under pressure from GOP members who say the rollbacks should be deeper.
http://www.lvrj.com/news/nevada-police-protest-federal-cops-cut-115683914.html