Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland (WA-10), a member of the Congressional Law Enforcement Caucus, is pushing for more federal funding to increase public safety and support local law enforcement. In a letter to the House Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, Strickland called on the federal government to increase funding for long standing programs that keep communities safe, support law enforcement, and provide additional key training and accountability programs.
“As a former mayor, I understand the importance of these funds to local communities,” said Strickland. “Police play an integral role in keeping the South Sound safe and they need additional resources to implement community-oriented policing, increase training, and deploy resources. Congress must ensure that our local law enforcement agencies have the funding they need to fully protect our communities.”
The Bryne Justice Assistance Grant and Community Oriented Policing Services Hiring Program have enabled local law enforcement agencies to better protect the South Sound and allow officers to keep up to date on best practices.
The full letter text can be found below and here.
Dear Chairman Cartwright and Ranking Member Aderholt,
As you begin to craft the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies (CJS) appropriation bill for Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23), we urge you to include increased funding for the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne JAG) Program and the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Hiring Program.
The Byrne JAG and COPS programs are the cornerstone of our federal justice assistance programs. Together, these grants are critical to ensuring state and local law enforcement have the training, tools, and personnel necessary to serve their communities. Since their inception, Byrne JAG and COPS grants have enabled law enforcement agencies to better protect their communities and promote community policing initiatives that form vital bonds between officers and those they serve.
The strength of the Byrne JAG program is in its broad impact across the criminal justice system. Byrne JAG funds are used in states and localities across the country for a variety of important initiatives, including improved tools and technologies, crime prevention and education, mental health and substance use disorder treatment, alternatives to incarceration, prosecution and indigent defense, crime victim services, recidivism reduction programs designed to stop the cycle of crime, and trainings to improve community policing efforts.
The COPS programs provide invaluable resources to hire community policing professionals, develop and test innovative policing strategies, and provide training to community members and local law enforcement. Since 1994, the COPS office has allocated more than $14 billion to local departments to help advance community policing. Increased funding is critical to ensuring that law enforcement has the resources necessary to continue these important community policing efforts that build bonds and make our communities safer.
These programs provide critical federal dollars to build upon successful crime reduction efforts and ensure officers maintain strong relationships with their communities. As many police departments across our nation continue to confront worsening gun violence, the importance of ensuring our federal policing grants are robustly funded is all the more crucial.
Support for the Byrne JAG and COPS programs is imperative to the safety of our communities and continued efforts to improve policing in our nation, yet funding for both programs have seen cuts over the past twelve years and must be restored to previous levels.
For these reasons, we respectfully request that you include increased funding for the Byrne JAG and COPS Hiring Programs in FY23.
U.S. Representative Marilyn Strickland serves on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and is the only African-American woman who serves on the House Armed Services Committee. She is a member of the New Democrat Coalition, is one of the first Korean-American women elected to Congress and is the first African-American elected to represent the Pacific Northwest at the federal level.
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