Funding Community Policing to Reduce Crime: Have COPS Grants Made a Difference from 1994 to 2000?

his study examines how funding from the COPS Office between 1994 and 1999 affected violent and property crime rates in the United States from 1995 through 2000. Drawing on 7 years of panel data, the authors examine 5,659 COPS-funded law enforcement agencies serving more than 133 million citizens and 1, 938 non-COPS-funded agencies serving about 21 million citizens. The analysis suggests that COPS hiring and innovative grant programs are related to significant reductions in local crime rates for both violent and nonviolent offenses in cities with populations greater than 10,000. COPS MORE grants had a significant effect on reducing property crime during the same period.