ANTI-DRUG TASK FORCE FUNDING SLASHED

WASHINGTON - Law-enforcement agencies across the nation and Inland
area could find it tougher to crack down on methamphetamine due to
cuts in a popular federal grant program.

Funding for Byrne Grants, which help finance drug task forces that
often focus on methamphetamine, was cut by $200 million.

The Bush Administration had eliminated funding for the program,
saying it and other grant programs were ineffective. But Congress
restored $606 million for Byrne Grants in the 2006 fiscal year as
part of a Justice Department spending bill. The grant program
received $804 million in fiscal 2005. That amount was also a
reduction from the previous year.

California received $31.6 million in Byrne Grant funding in 2004.
It's not yet clear how much the state will receive in 2006, but law
enforcement officials say they're bracing for a big reduction -- as
much as 35 percent, said Rick Oules, Director of Law Enforcement for
the California Department of Justice.

Oules said the state is already planning to cut 20 positions and trim
some crime-lab services. He said officials are concerned about how
the cuts will affect local anti-drug task forces, which receive a
majority of funding from the Byrne Grant program. There are 44 drug
task forces throughout California.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, and co-chairwoman of the new
Senate Anti-Meth Caucus, said cutting the Byrne grant program is short-sighted.

"It means fewer cops on the street, less money to combat the nation's
drug epidemic, and a heavier burden on local law enforcement,"
Feinstein said in a statement. Task forces "make thousands of arrests
each year. But these task forces will most likely be cut as a result
of these cuts."

Leaders of task forces in Riverside and San Bernardino counties say
they've already been hurt by past cuts.

Last year the Coachella Valley Narcotics Task Force lost 37 percent
of its grant money, which it uses to pay partial salaries for
detectives from nearby police agencies and for a deputy district
attorney who prosecutes narcotics cases.

Because of the cuts, the task force had to use asset forfeiture money
to pay for surveillance and other operations. Also, local
law-enforcement agencies had to pay more of the personnel costs, said
Cmdr. Fred Fierro, who heads the task force.

Lt. Greg Garland of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department
Narcotics Division, said the county's drug task force received
$823,532 last year, which was down from $1.25 million received the year before.

The task force had to redistribute people and resources, Garland said.

"If we get cut, somebody's got to go," he said.

Garland said if all of the federal money were to go away it would
likely mean the end of the task force. The federal funds are used to
pay for criminalists, salaries, surveillance, overtime, training and
district attorney services.

This year's Byrne Grant funding from Congress was part of a $57.9
billion spending bill for the federal departments of Commerce,
Justice and State.

The bill has $20 million for the Drug Enforcement Administration to
help local jurisdictions to clean up toxic meth labs. Another $63.59
million would go toward investigation, interdiction and dismantling
drug laboratories in meth "hot spots" across the country where the
drug is most prevalent.

But with growing attention on the methamphetamine epidemic there
needs to be more funding made available to fight it, said Joe Dunn,
associate legislative director with the National Association of
Counties, who is based in Washington.

Tom Ackerman with the Belo Capital Bureau contributed to this report.