POLICE FIGHT TO GET FUNDING LEVELS UP

Rifles, shotguns, pounds of drugs and loads of cash lined a table in
the garage of the University of Iowa Department of Public Safety
headquarters Monday morning.

However, local police warned Congressman Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa, that
without federal funding, those dangerous guns and weapons and the
people carrying them will remain on the streets.

Loebsack hosted a roundtable meeting with members of the Iowa City
and Coralville Police, Johnson County Sheriff's Office and the UI
Department of Public Safety to discuss how funding cuts to the
Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grants could affect them.

Loebsack said that for the Fiscal Year 2008, funding for JAG will
drop 67 percent from $660 million to $170 million. In Fiscal Year
2009, only $200 million will be allocated to the grant, which funds
departments and agency task forces to tackle drug-related programs.

"This is a critical program for a lot of people," Loebsack said.

The freshman congressman said he is trying to supplement the $490
million necessary to bring the grants back up to their normal level.

"We need $660 million," he said. "And we need more than that."

Iowa City Police Chief Sam Hargadine said that funding is essential
for police departments to do their job, pointing to the drugs, cash
and guns on the table.

"This is roughly one year's worth of work for the drug task force,"
Hargadine said. "If we don't get the funding next year, what you see
will be out in the community."

Hargadine said that there is an ongoing battle in the community
between police and drug dealers to keep the streets drug and violence-free.

"It comes down to do we win or do the drug dealers win?" Hargadine
said. "Right now, it looks like the drug dealers win."

Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek said that while drug dealing,
particularly meth and cocaine trafficking, are a national problem,
they are dealt with on the local level.

"It's a huge problem that locals end up dealing with," Pulkrabek
said. "(Legislators) have to give use funding to help get this off
the street. For the protection of our families, these are the things
we have to keep off of the street."

Coralville Lt. Shane Kron said the funding to local agencies and
particularly the Multi-Agency Drug Task Force not only helps to keep
drugs and weapons out of the community, but also the people involved
in the violent drug trade.

"If we lose funding, it's not just the dope and the violence," Kron
said. "It's the people. These people do a lot of damage. These are
seriously bad people. They have to be taken out of play. I think
that's what the task force does."

Loebsack said his bill, the Byrne-JAG Funding Restoration Act, has
bipartisan support on the House of Representatives. But until it's
passed and money is restored to the program, he will keep working to
drum up support.

"I'm going to keep fighting on this thing," Loebsack said.