Budget proposal calls for no COPS money

President George W. Bush’s 2007 budget proposal calls for the elimination of a longtime public-safety grant.

Yucel Ors, legislative director for the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials, said the Bush budget proposal does not include funding for Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant. Once a large program that included grants for interoperability efforts, COPS funding has dwindled in recent years, he said.

“Any reduction for funding for interoperability is not good,” Ors said. “And, no, it’s not being made up on the [Department of Homeland Security] side.”

COPS also was not part of Bush’s 2006 budget proposal, but Congress reinstated the program at $10 million—a significant decrease compared to the $93 million earmarked for COPS in the 2005 budget, Ors said.