NRO’s stimulus editorial today is dead-on. While Congress is developing legislation intended to stimulate the economy, interest groups, including governors, big-city mayors, and other local officials, are lining up for their share of what is rapidly becoming a political Christmas tree. Keeping with this theme, the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary will hold a hearing on Jan. 8 to discuss adding subsidies for police-officer salaries, through the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), to the economic-stimulus package. If enacted, this policy will be unsuccessful.
First, there is no evidence that COPS funding stimulates the economy. More generally, increased government reduces economic growth. Government spending crowds out private spending, especially private investment spending that would have elevated productivity.
Second, COPS has an extensive track record of poor performance. A 2006 Heritage Foundation evaluation of COPS grants found that the grants had little to no effect on crime. The officer salary subsidies failed to have a statistically measurable impact on murder, rape, assault, burglary, larceny, and auto-theft rates. Although the salary subsidies were associated with a slight decrease in robberies, the meager effect suggests that more funding will do little to reduce crime.
David B. Muhlhausen is senior policy analyst at the Center for Data Analysis at the Heritage Foundation.