Clinton goal of 100,000 additional police officers may fall short, report finds

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Clinton administration's much-touted goal "to put 100,000 police officers on the street" may not be achieved, according to a government-funded independent study of the president's prized COPS program released late Wednesday.

"Whether the program will ever increase the number of officers and equivalents to 100,000 on the street at a single point in time is not clear," stated the report, released late Wednesday. Based on projections, the study estimated that the number of additional police was likely to peak at between 69,000 and 83,600 during 2001.

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Clinton pledged in 1992 to put an additional 100,000 police officers on the nation's streets. But retention problems, the hiring process, and lengthy training programs have kept the goal from ever being met.

The head of the Justice Department office which administers the program now says the goal can still be reached three years from now.

"The COPS Office continues to aggressively pursue the goal of putting an additional 100,000 police officers on the street," said Office Director Tom Frazier.

"I am confident that the department will reach that goal by 2003," he added. He said the study had not used all of the latest data.

The 300-page study by the Urban Institute was paid for by the Justice Department's research and evaluation arm, the National Institute of Justice. The study primarily covered the first four years of the program, which began in 1994, but included some projections up to 2003.

Overall, the study gave the COPS program generally high marks for fostering community policing practices, and for providing help in the highest crime areas.

The COPS program provides funds to state and local police departments to pay for as much as 75 percent of an additional officer's salary for up to three years. After that, the local jurisdictions must pick up the cost of the officer.

The report said the study did not address the question of whether the COPS program had an effect on crime.

"Indeed, that question could not have been seriously addressed in the early years of COPS because 'the COPS program' meant something different in each jurisdiction," the report said.

CNN Producer Terry Frieden contributed to this report.

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U.S. Department of Justice
  •  Community Oriented Policing Services
  •  National Institute of Justice
The Urban Institute

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