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THE WHITE HOUSE

The Office of the Vice President


For Immediate Release April 29, 1999
               VICE PRESIDENT GORE ANNOUNCES INNOVATIVE
               COPS GRANTS TO ADD OFFICERS TO THE STREET

        $108 Million in COPS MORE '98 Grants for 632 Communities

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Vice President Gore and the Justice Department's Office of Community Oriented Policing Service (COPS) today announced the awarding of $108 million to 632 law enforcement agencies to upgrade their technology and hire civilians to put more police on the streets to fight crime.

"Our police officers need 21st century tools to fight 21st century crime," Vice President Gore said. "These funds will help communities across America fight the war against crime by getting officers out of the stationhouse and onto the streets."

The COPS MORE '98 (Making Officer Redeployment Effective) program provides departments with one-year grants to acquire equipment or hire civilian support staff to perform administrative tasks. This allows officers that typically spend time typing reports and conducting other tasks in the station house to be freed to devote more time to community policing. To receive a grant, applicants demonstrate that the technology, equipment, or civilian support staff hired will result in substantial time savings.

"COPS MORE is an integral part of our overall effort to put 100,000 community policing officers on the beat," said Joseph E. Brann, Director of the COPS Office. "Hiring civilians helps put officers back on the street doing the job they were hired to do, while equipment and technology makes officers far more efficient and effective in their community policing efforts."

COPS MORE '98 is authorized under the 1994 Crime Act as part of the Clinton/Gore Administration's 100,000 cops on the beat initiative. More than $320 million in grants have been announced under the COPS MORE '98 program.

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