Officials Say NYC Unfairly Left Out of Fed's COPS Program
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
New York, NY –
Mayor Bloomberg and the NYPD say the city is being unfairly left out of a $1 billion economic stimulus program to help cities avoid laying off police officers.
Federal officials say about 7,000 state and local agencies applied for aid under the cops program, but only about 1,000 were approved.
The Justice Department decided the most worthy cities were those that faced serious budgetary problems and those that have relatively high crime rates, and determined that New York is less needy by both measures.
Bloomberg says the police department is being punished for driving down crime with fewer resources, calling it an example of "the backwards incentive system that's sometimes at work in Washington". In statements, both the mayor and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly invoked the 9/11 attacks, arguing that federal support for the NYPD is an important anti-terror investment.
Congressman Peter King of Nassau County, who's the senior Republican on the Homeland Security Committee, is also criticizing the decision.
Vice President Joe Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder are set to announce today who gets what. They're doing it in Philadelphia, which is one of the roughly 1,000 cities that are getting money.
New York received about $29 million from a different stimulus program earlier this year.
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