More Cops at a Bargain Price

Crime-weary Americans are counting on President Clinton to make good on his promise to provide 100,000 new cops. The Senate is already on board. Now, the House must deliver. One way to do that would be to support the police corps.

The police corps would work like the ROTC. Students would sign up after high school. They would receive federal scholarships for college in exchange for a four-year commitment, and the feds would pay for law enforcement training. After graduation, the new rookies would work for local departments. They wouldn’t be eligible for pensions so they would cost less then traditional rookies. What a bargain!

Yet for some unstated reason, the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. Jack Brooks (D-Tex.), did not consider the police corps bill last week when it took up the other anti-crime bills reported out of subcommittees. What’s the holdup?

The White House and Senate would earmark anticipated savings from deep cuts in the federal work force to pay for more prisons, drug treatment and other anti-crime measures, including the initial appropriation for the police corps. Over five years the police corps would cost $2.5 billion, if limited to 50,000 participants as proposed by the Senate. That’s a sound investment in public safety, but several House members are reluctant to cut federal jobs to pay for an anti-crime package that they justifiably believe is much too heavy on punishment and too lean on prevention. A better balance should be negotiated, but without sacrificing the corps.

If the powerful Chairman Brooks doesn’t have a problem with the police corps, he should get the bill out of his panel so House-Senate conference committee members can tackle the differences. If he does have a problem, he should put it on the table and work out a timely compromise. Americans want more police, but most cities, including Los Angeles, have to scrape around to expand beyond a symbolic increase. A good chunk of a new police corps could shore up a Los Angeles force that is woefully too small to protect and serve this sprawling and diverse metropolis.

President Clinton repeated his promise of more cops last month. Did the House hear? America did.