Rather, agencies are required to demonstrate a public safety need and an inability to address this need without a grant. We noted that federal grants have been established to achieve a variety of goals. The Community Policing Act also requires that grants be used to supplement, not supplant, state and local funds. In January 1997, the COPS Office began taking steps to increase the level of its monitoring. Eighty-three percent—11,173 grants—of the total grants awarded went to agencies serving populations of fewer than 50,000. About 50 percent of the grant funds were awarded to law enforcement agencies serving populations of 150,000 or less, and about 50 percent of the grant funds were awarded to law enforcement agencies serving populations exceeding 150,000, as the Community Policing Act required. Table 2 shows the number and amount of the COPS grants (awarded in fiscal years 1995 and 1996) by the type of grant. Figure 3 shows the distribution of community policing grant dollars awarded by each state and Washington, D.C.

	We Estimated That 61 Percent of MORE Program Grant Funds Were Spent to Hire Civilian Personnel

Our survey results showed that in fiscal years 1995 and 1996, grantees were awarded an estimated $286 million (plus or minus 3 percent) in MORE program funds to use for purchases of technology and equipment, hiring of support personnel, and/or payment of law enforcement officers’ overtime. According to our survey, MORE grantees had spent an estimated $90.1 million in fiscal years 1995 and 1996, a little less than one-third of the $286 million in MORE funds they were awarded. About 31 percent of the funds went for the purchase of technology and/or equipment, primarily computers, and about 8 percent was spent on overtime for law enforcement officers. Distributions of MORE program grant expenditures were heavily influenced by the expenditures of one large jurisdiction, the New York City Police Department. This police department was awarded about one-third of the total amount of MORE grant funds awarded and had spent about one-half of all MORE grant funds expended nationwide. New Officers and Redeployments to Community Policing Count Toward the Goal of 100,000 New Officers on the Street

As of June 1997, a total of 30,155 law enforcement officer positions funded by COPS grants were estimated by the COPS Office to be on the street. COPS Office estimates of the numbers of new community policing officers on the street were based on three funding sources: (1) officers on board as a result of COPS hiring grants; (2) officers redeployed to community policing as a result of time savings achieved through technology and equipment purchases, hiring of civilian personnel, and/or law enforcement officers’ overtime funded by the MORE grant program; and (3) officers funded under the Police Hiring Supplement Program, which was in place before the COPS grant program. This number was less than 3 percent of the 11,434 hiring grants awarded during the 2-year period. The 293 special agency grantees applied most frequently to use officers hired with the COPS funds to (1) write strategic plans for community policing, (2) provide community policing training for citizens and/or law enforcement officers, (3) meet regularly with community groups, and (4) develop neighborhood watch programs and antiviolence programs. To determine how the COPS Office monitored the use of grants it awarded, we reviewed documentation on monitoring procedures and interviewed officials about actions taken and planned. To determine the process the COPS Office used to calculate the number of officers on the street, we interviewed officials and reviewed documentation on how calculations were made. To describe funding distributions and uses of COPS hiring grants in special law enforcement agencies, we used a data collection instrument to review the COPS Office’s grant application files of hiring grants accepted by special law enforcement agencies.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Justice Office of Community Policing Services (COPS) grant program, focusing on: (1) Justice's implementation of the Community Policing Act with special attention to statutory requirements for implementing the COPS grants; (2) how COPS monitored the use of grants it awarded; (3) the distribution of COPS grants nationwide by population size of jurisdiction served, by type of grant, and by state; (4) how law enforcement agencies used grants under the COPS Making Officer Redeployment Effective (MORE) grant program; (5) the process the COPS office used to calculate the number of officers on the street; and (6) the funding distributions and uses of COPS hiring grants by special law enforcement agencies.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) under the Community Policing Act, grants are generally available to any law enforcement agency that can demonstrate a public safety need; demonstrate an inability to address the need without a grant; and, in most instances, contribute a 25-percent match of the federal share of the grant; (2) to achieve the goal of increasing the number of community policing officers, the law required that grants be used to supplement, not supplant, state and local funds; (3) the COPS Office provided limited monitoring of the grants during the period GAO reviewed; however, the office was taking steps to increase its level of monitoring; (4) about 50 percent of the grant funds were awarded to law enforcement agencies serving populations of 150,000 or less, and about 50 percent of the grant funds were awarded to law enforcement agencies serving populations exceeding 150,000, as the Community Policing Act required; (5) about $286 million, or 11 percent of the total grant dollars awarded in fiscal years (FY) 1995 and 1996, were awarded under the MORE grant program; (6) according to the results of a survey GAO did of a representative national sample of those receiving grants under the COPS MORE grant program in FY 1995 and 1996, grantees had spent an estimated $90.1 million, or a little less than one-third of the funds they were awarded; (7) they spent about 61 percent of these funds to hire civilian personnel, about 31 percent to purchase technology or equipment, and about 8 percent on overtime payments for law enforcement officers; (8) the distributions of MORE program grant expenditures were heavily influenced by the expenditures of the New York City Police Department, which spent about one-half of all the MORE program grant funds expended nationwide; (9) to calculate its progress toward achieving the goal of 100,000 new community policing officers on the street as a result of its grants, the COPS Office did telephone surveys of grantees; (10) as of June 1997, the COPS Office estimated that a total of 30,155 law enforcement officer positions funded by COPS grants were on the street; (11) according to the results of GAO's review of COPS Office files, special law enforcement agencies were awarded 329 community policing hiring grants in FY 1995 and 1996--less than 3 percent of the total hiring grants awarded; and (12) special agency grantees applied most frequently to use officers hired with the COPS funds to write strategic plans, work with community groups, and provide community policing training to officers and citizens.