House Republican’s plan to kill the Justice Department’s Community Orienting Policing Services (COPS) program is “unacceptable” and would “place this nation at risk,” Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday.
“Though we are enjoying historically low crime rates, we have 30,000 vacant law enforcement positions in this county, we have lost 12,000 officers over the course of the last year, and we put at risk the possibility that these historically low rates will not remain there forever,” Holder said in response to a question from Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
Holder said that the amount of violence directed at police officers is up over 20 percent over the last two years and the number of deaths this year is outpacing last year.
“The notion that somehow, someway — at a time when we are trying to create jobs — we take people who are sworn to protect the lives of the American people off the line is to me illogical, unacceptable and dangerous.
Ryan J. Reilly
Ryan J. Reilly is a D.C.-based reporter for TPM. Prior to joining TPM, he worked for a news website covering the Justice Department and was a researcher for Bloomberg News. His email address is ryan(at)talkingpointsmemo.com.
Facebook Conversations
Questions about commenting with non-Facebook accounts like Yahoo, or other concerns? Click here to read the TPM Commenting FAQ.