Pubdate: Tue, 03 May 2005
Source: Daily Home, The (Talladega,  AL)
Copyright: 2005 Consolidated Publishing
Contact:  http://www.dailyhome.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1632
Author: Chris Norwood

TASK FORCES MAY LOSE FEDERAL FUNDING

TALLADEGA COUNTY - Multi-agency drug task forces, including Talladega
County's, may be losing the federal funds that make up 75 percent of
their budgets, according to an Associated Press story.

Last year, the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs
doled out more than $7.5 million in U.S. Department of Justice's
Bureau of Justice Assistance funds to the state of Alabama, according
to the DOJ's Web site.

This year, the Associated Press said, that figure is down to about
$5.2 million. In the budget for fiscal 2006, President Bush proposes
eliminating such funding all together.

The federal funds, according to the DOJ's Web site, come in the form
of "Edward Byrne Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance
Grant Program (Byrne Formula Grant Program)," described as "a
partnership among federal, state and local governments to create safer
communities. BJA is authorized to award grants to states for use by
states and units of local government to improve the functioning of the
criminal justice system - with emphasis on violent crime and serious
offenders - and enforce state and local laws that establish offenses
similar to those in the federal Controlled Substances Act."

Talladega County District Attorney Steve Giddens, who was instrumental
in establishing a Task Force in Talladega, thinks this is extremely
unwise.

"I first heard about this at a meeting about two weeks ago," Giddens
said. "According to ADECA, we will potentially lose federal funding,
leaving the agencies involved to come up with a 50 percent match,
rather than the 25 percent match we've got now. Then we get nothing.
Ironically, just when we're starting to see what the methamphetamine
epidemic is doing to our county, the state and the country as a whole,
the federal government decides to cut funds that would help us fight
this stuff."

The cuts are, at this point, still proposals. Both of Alabama's
senators, as well as the representative for the state's Third
Congressional District, expressed reservations about the cuts.

Alabama's senior senator, Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, told the
Birmingham News through a spokesperson that he was "well aware of the
president's budget regarding Department of Justice grants." He said he
has serious concerns with the cuts the president has proposed."

Michael Brumas, communication director for Sen. Jeff Sessions, added,
"Although proposals have been made before to cut money for drug task
forces, Sen. Sessions expects Congress to continue to fund the program."

Rep. Mike Rogers said, "I am concerned about these proposed cuts, and
as the process moves forward I will continue to do whatever I can to
support local law enforcement initiatives like this that help combat
drug trafficking and addiction across East Alabama."

New Problems

Giddens said methamphetamine has now surpassed crack cocaine as the
top enemy in the war on drugs in Talladega County, which comes with
unique problems.

"You can bust a crack house, you make some arrests, you seize some
crack. It's pretty simple. But with all of the chemicals involved in
operating a meth lab, it gets a lot more complicated. Before you can
secure the scene, you have to send in a HazMat crew, because an
explosion could very easily kill an agent, or neighbors or anybody
else who happened to be nearby. And that can get expensive."

The Talladega County Drug and Violent Crime Task Force is now in its
third year of existence, and its case load has been climbing steadily.

"For the fiscal year that started in October 2003 and ended in October
2004, we made 102 meth cases, and seized 18 labs," Giddens said. "And
that's just meth, that's not counting cocaine or prescription drugs or
marijuana cases."

In addition to finished product, Giddens said some 5,267
over-the-counter medications containing psudoephedrine, a precursor to
methamphetamine, have been seized from labs so far this year.

"In the first two quarters of the current fiscal year, from October to
March, we made 80 meth cases and seized 22 labs. At that rate, we'll
be at 160 cases by the end of the year, and 44 labs. That's a big hit.
You're talking about more than double, just a staggering increase. And
the government's response to this spiraling problem is to cut our funding."

The task force is made up of agents assigned from the District
Attorney's Office, the Talladega County Sheriff's Department, and
officers from all of the municipal police departments in the county.
They now handle the vast majority of felony drug crimes in the county.

"The level of cooperation involved is the really beautiful part of all
this," Giddens said. "Once we have the officers in place, we are able
to use grant money for salaries, vehicles or equipment, whatever we
need. I know the DA's Association, the Sheriff's Association and
police organizations are all fighting to prevent these Byrne grants
from being phased out."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin