BUDGET PLAN CUTS GRANTS TO AREA DRUG TASK FORCES

SPRINGFIELD -- Every year, 20 Illinois drug task force units split
about $2.8 million in federal grants to fund their fight against drug
dealers and drug manufacturers statewide.

In 2006, those federal funds helped the drug enforcement officers
patrolling 69 of Illinois' 102 counties reduce the number of labs
producing methamphetamine and increase the number of undercover
marijuana and cocaine busts.

Those initiatives could come to a halt for 12 of those 20 units in
the next year if the Bush administration's proposed 2009 budget is approved.

The plan would cut the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance
Grant's funding by 67 percent, reducing Illinois' recipients to just
eight agencies splitting $900,000

"This is a president who's so focused on this war and so focused on
everything else that if it's Iraq we've got the money, but if it's
for the U.S. we don't," said U.S. Rep. Phil Hare, D-Moline. "I don't
know why he's proposing these kinds of cuts."

Local task force leaders are wondering the same thing while they
figure out how to run their units with a fraction of the resources.

Sgt. Mark Peyton leads the East Central Illinois Task Force in Coles,
Moultrie, Shelby and Douglas counties. His agency will not only
suffer operational cuts, but also will have to release a pair of
experienced officers to keep costs under budget.

"Our overall operating budget varies somewhere around $300,000;
cutting $100,000 out of that is going to be rough," said Peyton, who
worries that the hours already spent on keeping streets safe could go
to waste if lawmakers don't realize the impact of the proposed
budget. "I think everything that impacts us will ultimately impact
the community. Those are the real losers, unfortunately."

Hare has proposed legislation to add $490 million to the grant if the
budget cuts are approved. Other sponsors include Republican U.S. Rep.
Tim Johnson of Urbana.

"We have the money; it's a matter of if we have the will," Hare said.
"We're going to hope that the president doesn't veto this, but if he
does, we have the votes to override him."

There's no doubt that the resources are working, according to Hare
and the task force leaders.

From 1997 and 2004, the Byrne grant never dipped below $3.8 million
in Illinois funding, and it reached as high as $6.5 million.

"I don't understand what the logic is in cutting drug funding," said
Master Sgt. John Biffany, leader of the Blackhawk Area Task Force,
which serves counties east of the Quad Cities as far as Ogle County.
"In the area that we serve there really are no other dedicated drug units."

Biffany and other task force leaders predict dissolving drug task
forces will have an impact on the overall statewide crime rate, not
just drug use in Illinois.

"The communities that we serve would deteriorate if there weren't
drug enforcement," he said. "When law enforcement has a grasp on
narcotics enforcement, all other crimes go down."

Force reduction

The following drug task forces (with their service areas in
parentheses) could be among those that dissolve if President Bush's
budget proposal is adopted:

- -- Central Illinois Enforcement Group (Mason, Logan, Sangamon, Morgan
and Christian counties)

- -- Task Force 6 (McLean and DeWitt counties)

- -- LaSalle Task Force (LaSalle Putnam and Bureau counties)