Ramsey to Senate: Local cops need more money

Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey went to Washington, D.C., yesterday morning and tried to convince Senate leaders that police departments across the country are in need of a healthy helping of federal aid.

The heart of Ramsey's argument was simple: Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the federal government has cut the amount of support it gives to state and local law enforcement by 80 percent, while directing more resources to the Department of Homeland Security.

Locally, the drop has been steep. Last year, the Philadelphia Police Department received about $3.5 million in federal aid, compared with more than $31 million in 1996.

The need for more aid has only grown more dire as the city struggles to keep its finances in order under the weight of a billion-dollar deficit.

"The economic downturn has affected all of us," Ramsey said last night. "Our budget's been cut. We aren't able to hire 200 additional officers. We've cut back on overtime, and the improvements we need in our training and equipment can't be met."

Even if he had only half of the federal money the city received in '96, Ramsey said the city could hire civilian crime and intelligence analysts and make improvements to the department's crumbling facilities.

"No question about it, it's needed," Ramsey said.

Others made similar arguments yesterday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Ramsey was joined by Michael Schirling, police chief of Burlington, Vt.; John Schmidt, a former Justice Department official who had overseen provisions of a major 1994 crime bill, and Mary Lou Leary, executive director of the National Center for Victims of Crime.

All argued for restoration of money to the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, known as COPS, which administered the initiative started by President Clinton to put 100,000 police officers on the nation's streets.

Ramsey said he thought the collective pitch was well-received by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the committee.

He was hopeful that Leahy would try to revive a piece of legislation that Vice President-elect Joe Biden introduced last year to boost crime-fighting funds.

Not everyone in attendance was in favor of Ramsey's argument.

David Mulhausen, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Data Analysis at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said directing federal dollars to law enforcement would do "virtually nothing to stimulate the economy.

Boosting the COPS program, he said, "encourages state and local governments to be fiscally irresponsible." *

The Associated Press contributed to this article.