Pubdate: Wed, 09 Jan 2002 Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA) Copyright: 2002 Richmond Newspapers Inc. Contact: http://www.timesdispatch.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/365 Author: Frank Green Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) Note: This article also includes information (starting paragraph 5) about the crime commission tabling until next year a proposed state constitutional amendment aimed at easing the process for felons to win back the right to vote. PLAN WOULD PUT MORE OFFICERS IN VA. SCHOOLS The State Crime Commission got the ball rolling yesterday on a plan to place trained police officers in Virginia's 606 public middle schools, high schools and alternative schools. Commission staff will draft legislation that would put School Resource Officers in one-quarter of the schools each year over a four-year period. The most troublesome schools would receive the first officers, said Kimberly J. Echelberger, a senior policy analyst. The resource officers would be sworn personnel hired by the local law agency for enforcement and security in schools. Currently, the state funds 77 School Resource Officers, and a federal grant pays for another 56. Full funding for the program would be more than $27 million a year. For the first phase, $6.9 million would be needed for the fiscal year beginning July 1. In other matters, the crime commission tabled until next year a proposed state constitutional amendment aimed at easing the process for felons to win back the right to vote. The amendment, which could still go to voters in 2004, would automatically restore the right to vote to nonviolent felons 10 years after their release from incarceration or the date of their conviction if they were not imprisoned. The commission tabled the matter so it could study what mechanism would be needed to restore the rights automatically. A proposed constitutional amendment has to be passed by two sessions of the General Assembly with an intervening election, so no action was required this year. At least four bills related to restoring felons' rights have been prefiled for the coming legislature. Virginia has one of the most difficult processes for restoring rights. Only the governor can restore the rights and, under current policy, felons must wait five years after they have completed any parole or probation periods after imprisonment. Felons can apply to the secretary of the commonwealth for restoration, a route that takes about a year, or their local circuit court, which takes about 90 days. In either case, the governor has the final say. Virginia has about 270,000 felons. From 1986 through 1998, the state's governors approved 1,743 applications for the restoration of rights. From midyear 2000, when the circuit court procedure became available, only 26 felons had their rights restored through the courts. "My concern is how paltry a figure it is," said state Del. Brian J. Moran, D-Alexandria, chairman of the Crime Commission task force that examined the problem. Del. Vincent F. Callahan Jr., R-Fairfax, pointed out that the last time a similar question was placed before voters in 1982, it was soundly defeated by a 2-1 margin. That proposal was for the restoration of all rights, not just voting rights, and also made no distinction between violent and nonviolent offenders. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth