The federal budget outlook continues to look less than encouraging on a number of fronts. Couple this with the fact that the prevailing attitude within the House of Representatives is to cut, cut and cut some more and the groundwork is set for reductions to police budgets.
One of the items on the chopping block is funding for the Community Oriented Policing Services program. First instituted in 1994, the goal of COPS was ambitious in its goal to fundamentally transform policing in America.
Originally developed by criminologists, community oriented policing focused on proactive problem solving and developing community partnerships to reduce crime. COPS represented a significant departure from the traditional, reactionary model of policing.
The Federal COPS grant was intended to create more law enforcement jobs and add up to 100,000 more police officers on the streets in order to free up more officers to work with neighborhood and community groups and prevent crime.
According to crime data maintained by the FBI, the national crime rate fell by nearly 30 percent in the first 10 years of the program's existence, though there is debate as to whether the COPS programs can be credited for the decrease.
With cuts to COPS looming, some agencies are scrambling to find ways to put more officers back on the streets. Many departments are finding unique ways to increase their road coverage by downsizing their upper management positions and moving the resulting vacancies to patrol jobs.
Whether COPS remains a viable program in the future or not, one fact is clear: crime is not going away. As a result, one way or another, there will continue to be a need for people to work in criminology. Law enforcement and criminology jobs will continue to grow in the foreseeable future. While competition may increase in weaker job markets, the right candidates should have no problem getting hired.