BILLINGS, Mont. -- Federal funding for the grant program that has helped hire thousands of community police officers across the country may be drying up. After several years of declining financial support, the Bush administration proposed no funding for that hiring program and others like it for the next fiscal year.
Detective Sgt. Mark Mulcahy hit the streets one recent Saturday, checking on convicted sex offenders in Kalispell. It's a duty he believes makes the northwest Montana community safer, but it probably would not exist if a federal program hadn't helped put another cop on the street to free up Mulcahy.
"In the past, we didn't have the opportunity to do this," Mulcahy said in a telephone interview. "It's such a large job, it kind of requires at least one person designated to it."
Administration officials say the Clinton-era effort met its goal of helping put more than 100,000 officers on the streets and in schools across the country, and that there were no guarantees for long-term funding levels.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/09/26/us_funds_drying_up_for_community_cops/
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
