House Appropriations Committee votes to eliminate funding for community police officers

Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee want to eliminate the 17-year-old federal Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program that has helped states and localities hire community police officers since 1994, provide no more funding for states to help pay the costs of imprisoning illegal immigrants, and sharply reduce federal juvenile justice funding. It's part of an overall reduction of more than $1 billion in the Justice Department budget of $27 billion-plus that the committee approved yesterday.

Republicans defeated an amendment by Democratic Rep. Chaka Fattah of Pennsylvania to give $35 million to the COPS program. Commerce and Justice Subcommittee Chairman Frank Wolf, R-Va., "said he was supportive of COPS but objected to the offset Fattah came up with – to take money from an asset forfeiture fund also used by law enforcement," Erik Wasson of The Hill reports. Wolf did agree to seek additional funding for the program if more money becomes available. (Read more)