FEDERAL BILL HAS FUNDS FOR LOCAL CRIME FIGHTING

An emergency spending bill approved last night by the House of
Representatives that would provide more than $10 billion for the war in
Kosovo and military pay raises also includes $500,000 to fight crime along
the border between the District and Prince George's County. The measure now
goes to the Senate.

The $500,000 measure would pay to extend Operation Clean, a joint
federal-local crackdown on crime that began in the fall in communities along
the city-county line. The money was inserted into the supplemental
appropriations bill by Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md).

Under the program, about 30 police officers from the District and Prince
George's have been federally deputized by the U.S. Marshals Service and the
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, giving them the authority to chase
suspects across the border.

The first phase of Operation Clean was paid for with about $200,000 in
federal grants coordinated by the Baltimore-Washington High Intensity Drug
Trafficking Area, a federal agency based in Greenbelt.