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WASHINGTON - Rep. Chris Cannon voted against reauthorizing a federal program to put more cops on the street, saying it's a local responsibility.

The House voted last week to send $600 million in grants per year to state and local officials to hire more police officers. The program would run for another six years and refresh the effort to boost police ranks that began with the Clinton administration but was nearly zeroed out under President Bush.

Cannon, R-Utah, was one of 34 votes against the bill, which was endorsed by several police organizations, including the National Sheriffs Association and Fraternal Order of Police. After winning House passage, the legislation awaits Senate action.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., says his legislation would put 50,000 more police officers on the streets.

"The C.O.P.S. hiring program has been one of the most successful law enforcement programs in the nation's history," Weiner said in a release. "To date, the program has put almost 120,000 more officers on the street nationwide."

Utah's Reps. Rob Bishop, a Republican, and Jim Matheson, a Democrat, voted for the measure.

Cannon pointed to a recent report in USA Today of an internal audit showing that 3 percent of the COPS grants reviewed found some $277 million was misspent. Additionally, the report says, tens of thousands of jobs funded by the grants were never filled or weren't filled for long.

"Congressman Cannon believes policing, like teaching, is best left to local authorities," says his spokesman Fred Piccolo. "He has serious concerns with the federal government being in the business of community policing."

It's unclear how many Utah law enforcement agencies would apply or receive grants under the new reauthorization should it pass the Senate and get signed by the president.

South Salt Lake used past COPS grants to hire 17 new officers, but when the money ran out, the department had to fork out its own money to keep them on the job, according to Capt. Tracy Tingey.

When some of the 17 left the department through attrition, the department and the city opted not to fill the positions, Tingey said. He added that if the same money were made available to South Salt Lake again, he doubts his department would apply for it.

"It's a good program," Tingey said. "There's nothing wrong with the program. You just have to make sure that you have the funding in place to keep those officers onboard after the grant runs out."

Weiner's office says the Bush administration's curtailing of funds for COPS grants coincided with a spike in violent crimes. The Police Executive Research Forum released a report earlier this year showing that since 2005, of the cities surveyed, 71 percent had an increase in homicides, 80 percent saw robberies rise and 67 percent saw a bump in aggravated assaults with guns.

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* NATE CARLISLE contributed to this story.