LAW ENFORCEMENT MAY GAIN

Board To Consider Funding For Dam Duty, Boat Patrols

Law enforcement in Shasta County would get a boost of about $240,000 under a
handful of grants and spending initiatives going before the Board of
Supervisors on Tuesday.

Supervisors will consider devoting money for extra boating safety patrols
during the Memorial Day weekend, augmenting the Sheriff's Department's
overtime budget and accepting reimbursement for guarding Shasta Dam in the
aftermath of Sept. 11.

In a separate discussion, board members may accept $47,842 from the state
for the drug testing defendants under Proposition 36, the drug treatment
initiative passed by California voters in 2000.

Sheriff Jim Pope submitted a half-dozen spending proposals to supervisors,
using money ranging from the proceeds from the sale of an old patrol boat to
his department's annual share of state Citizens Options for Public Safety
(COPS) funding.

His largest proposed initiative is to take $129,598 in COPS funding and use
it to cover a shortfall in his budget for overtime, he told the Board of
Supervisors in a written report.

The sheriff also wants to use $34,587 in state reimbursements for homicide
trials to cover increased overtime costs in his patrol and major crimes
units.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, meanwhile, is reimbursing the Sheriff's
Department $11,654 for extra security patrol it provided at the dam after
the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Pope would use it in his disaster patrol
budget.

In another move, Pope wants to sell a 1984 Boston Whaler boat and trailer
the department no longer needs. The $9,975 in income would be used to
increase workers in the boating safety program.

The drug-testing money comes as a result of a bill passed after Proposition
36, which diverted people convicted of nonviolent drug possession offenses
to treatment rather than jail time.

Because drug testing is a major component of most treatment programs, Gov.
Gray Davis signed a bill that provides money to test Proposition 36
offenders. Shasta County's share is $47,842.

Supervisors will consider using $32,242 of that money to provide testing
through the Probation Department, and use the rest for training and for drug
testing by the county's private contractors.