This bill reauthorizes and modifies the COPS (Community Oriented Policing Services) grant program, which provides federal funding to help local law enforcement agencies hire and retain officers. The legislation extends the program through 2034 and expands its use to include increasing police officer compensation, particularly in rural and economically disadvantaged areas where median household income falls below 70 percent of the national average. The bill reduces the local matching fund requirement for these economically struggling communities, allowing the federal government to cover up to 90 percent of costs in the first year, declining to 75 percent by the fourth year, and caps federal funding for hiring or rehiring individual officers at $75,000 unless the Attorney General grants a waiver. Additionally, the bill directs unused funding from larger urban areas to be made available for smaller communities and requires the Government Accountability Office to report to Congress in 2029 and 2034 on how representative police departments are of their communities and other workforce metrics.
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