A report by the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General found many questionable expenses in the department's $9 billion Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program, which is alleged to have put 100,000 police officers on America's streets. Of the 150 audited localities receiving COPS grants, over half charged unallowable costs to the program such as overtime, police uniforms, and fringe benefits not approved in advance. 78 percent who had earmarked grants to divert deskbound officers to street duty could not demonstrate that they had done so and failed to track the information. 41 percent of grant recipients "showed indicators" that they had used federal funds to supplant local funds, sometimes paying the salaries of officers already on board, and other times not meeting the program's matching-funds requirements. 58 percent of grantees "either did not develop a good-faith plan to retain officer positions or said they would not retain the positions at the conclusion of the grants."

In Talladega, Alabama, auditors found that the department had not hired any of the six officers funded with a $334,000 grant. The police department of Youngstown, Ohio, instituted a hiring freeze shortly after receiving $2.1 million to hire 28 officers. And auditors arrived in Breckenridge, Missouri, to find a bankrupt town operating without a budget, its city council and police department having disbanded shortly after receiving a grant.

The program even faces problems over the definition of what constitutes a "cop." In 1996, Investor's Business Daily reported that COPS grants were going to state parks, nature sanctuaries, and other places not associated with violent crime. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection received a $3.5 million grant to hire 30 marine-patrol officers to monitor a national marine sanctuary. In Tennessee, the Murfreesboro Parks and Recreation Department received over $280,000 to hire five park rangers. Maryland's National Resources Police received grants totaling $1 million to hire 19 park rangers. In fact, all that is required to qualify as a law enforcement official under the program is some sort of formal academy training, as defined loosely by each locality.

[Ed.: Bicycle-mounted Washington Metropolitan police officers are equipped under the COPS program with Smith and Wesson bicycles that cost $1,170 each.]

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