Washington, DC - Congressman Dan Lungren (R-CA) today wrote a letter to the Attorney General of the United States, Eric Holder, to enable the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department to rewrite their application for *COPS funding. Congressman Lungren released the following statement:

"Today I wrote to Attorney General Holder requesting that his office allow the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department to amend their application for COPS funding.  As we are all painfully aware, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office received no monies from the COPS stimulus funding and with the budget shortfalls at the county level, the department has seen a huge cut in essential services.

"I have not seen cuts to a public safety department of this magnitude.  We're talking about 333 full-time positions eliminated, aerial support grounded, SWAT teams cut and K-9 units shut down.

"If the Department of Justice does not allow for the Sheriff's Department to amend its application to reflect these changes, the application will reflect levels of service that date back to April of this year before all of these cuts were made.

"How can officials 2900 miles away make future spending decisions based on inadequate information?  I will continue to fight for my constituents and the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department to see that their story is told here in Washington."

*COPS - Community Oriented Policing Services.

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Congressman Dan Lungren serves as Ranking Member on the House Administration Committee in addition to serving on the Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees