Those were the only Texas grants among 238 local departments nationwide that received funding. See the complete list (pdf). By my count, 149 Texas agencies applied for the grants, which gets Texas a 3.4% approval rate. (See the list (pdf) of applicants.) Nationwide, 11.3% of the 8,999 total positions requested were filled. "The grants provide 100 percent funding for the entry-level salaries and benefits of newly-hired, or rehired, full-time officer positions over a three-year period."
Regular readers know Grits is no fan of the COPS program. It violates principles of federalism for the feds to subsidize local law enforcement costs, plus commits the agencies receiving the grants to living beyond their means, since they'll have to come up with money to pay for the new positions when the three-year grant is up. In addition, the overwhelming majority of departments preparing grant requests are wasting administrative staff time and resources on grant applications that around 97% of them will never receive.
See related Grits posts:
- COPS grants skew local budget decisions: Eliminate them as part of federal deficit reduciton
- Do COPS hiring grants make sense in a lousy economy?
- Another part of Obama's stimulus the Governor should oppose
- Texas shortchanged on COPS grant funding
- Obama shouldn't waste stimulus money on Byrne grants
- The Wimpy Approach to funding local police: Federal COPS grants
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2 comments:
"Regular readers know Grits is no fan of the COPS program. It violates principles of federalism for the feds to subsidize local law enforcement costs, plus commits the agencies receiving the grants to living beyond their means, since they'll have to come up with money to pay for the new positions when the three-year grant is up."
In your opinion, does the use of federal funds via grants to hire teachers violate the principles of federalism?
Very helpful piece of writing, much thanks for this article.
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