U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Community Policing: Information on the "Cops on the Beat" Grant Programs

NCJ Number
158757
Date Published
1995
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This report presents the methodology and findings of a review of various aspects of the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Program, "Cops on the Beat."
Abstract
The report describes the grant application, selection, and monitoring processes for the COPS: Phase I, COPS Funding Accelerated for Smaller Towns (FAST), and COPS Accelerated Hiring, Education, and Deployment (AHEAD) programs. The review also provides for the COPS FAST and COPS AHEAD programs a comparison of the crime rates in applicant and nonapplicant jurisdictions, the reasons some jurisdictions chose not to apply for COPS program grants, and the public safety issues identified by a sample of jurisdictions applying for COPS FAST grants. Researchers conducted telephone interviews with a random sample of 289 nonapplicant jurisdictions to determine why they did not apply for a grant. They also reviewed a random sample of 207 COPS FAST approved applications to determine public safety issues identified by applicant jurisdictions. Overall, the higher the crime rate, the more likely a jurisdiction was to apply for a COPS grant. Approximately 92 percent of jurisdictions that applied for a grant received initial approval. The primary reasons the contacted jurisdictions chose not to apply for COPS grants were cost-related. Property crimes and domestic violence were the most often included crimes in the top five public safety issues among approved COPS FAST applicants. Appended details of objectives, scope, and methodology