Federal, local cuts pull cops off streets

The federal program that added more than 100,000 cops to local police forces and helped to cut crime to historically low rates during the past decade is being rolled back because local governments can't afford to keep many of the officers on the street.

The Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program was a hallmark of the Clinton administration, providing more than $8 billion in grants to saturate crime-plagued areas with officers and forging unprecedented ties between cops and neighborhood patrols.

The COPS program, which is being phased out by the federal government, has provided grants to pay for all or part of entry-level officers' salaries during their first three years of work. Agencies that received COPS grants were required to keep the officers for a fourth year.