DRUG ENFORCEMENT GRANT THREATENED

WATERLOO --- Local police say the federal government has continued to
shrink funding that's the backbone for drug trafficking battles.

Now the president has included even more cuts for the Byrne Justice
Assistance Grant Program in his recent budget, said Sen. Tom Harkin,
D-Iowa.

The Senate approved $660 million for the program but was forced to
reduce the funding due to the threat of a presidential veto, Harkin
said Friday during a conference in Waterloo with law enforcement
representatives.

Current proposals place the Byrne program at only $170 million. This
means Iowa agencies, which currently get $4.2 million, would only see
$1.5 million.

"After years and years of cuts to these programs, we can no longer ask
our frontline officers to do more with less. We cannot continue to
starve these drug enforcement task forces from the resources they need
to fight crime on our neighborhood streets," Harkin said.

Harkin and Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., intend to restore all $660 million
for the program by adding language to an emergency funding bill that
Congress likely will consider next month.

Locally, the Byrne grant pays for 75 percent of the salaries for the
five officers and deputies assigned to the Tri-County Drug Enforcement
Task Force and for a drug prosecutor.

Without the grant, the local governments would have to pick up the
entire cost.

Last year, the task force received $283,000 in Byrne funding, said
Waterloo Police Chief Tom Jennings.

He said the grant normally provides a little more than a quarter of a
million dollars a year. But Jennings said it hasn't kept up with
cost-of-living and insurance increases for the officers.

In the past, the grant used to fund both salary and other costs, like
equipment, training and "buy money" used in undercover
investigations.

"It's been on kind of a roller coaster ride. In the past, it's paid
for not only the salaries but operation money and overtime. And over
the years, they've cut it back and cut it back, so now it's just
paying salaries," Jennings said.

Other agencies aren't as lucky.

"We're fortunate with the Tri-County Task Force that we're still
getting funds, but other communities across the state have lost
complete funding. The formula and the need, I think, are why we're
still in the game," Jennings said.

Harkin said canceling the current Byrne program would eliminate
funding for 15 Iowa drug control programs and salaries for 39 people
in those programs.

The task force's involvement with the Byrne grant started in 1991 as a
four-year project with the community picking up the tab for the fifth
year. But the program proved successful and has continued.

Last year, Tri-County officers seized drugs with a total street value
of $1.675 million, which was a record for the agency.