WHY KILL A PROGRAM THAT PREVENTS CRIME?

When a police program prevents crime and enhances community relations, why
scuttle it? Housing officials and police in Guilford County and across the
nation are asking Congress that question.

At issue is a successful 13-year-old program of assigning police full-time
to public housing communities. Prodded by the White House, Congress is
planning to slash more than $350 million in federal grants that pay for
this nationwide program. The money would be cut from the budget of the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development.

President Bush insists that HUD should not be in the law enforcement
business. His father thought differently. President George H.W. Bush
initiated the program in 1988.

Its benefits are enormous. Those official uniforms deter crime. Police once
cruised through crime-ridden neighborhoods but are now a permanent
presence. They closely observe the neighborhood and build rapport with
residents, leading to crime tips.

Gloria Rankin, a resident of Smith Homes in south Greensboro, told the News
& Record that her front yard used to be crowded with drug dealers. After
police officers were assigned there in 1989, drug dealers fled. "Children
can play outside without the fear of dodging bullets," Rankin said.

Statistics confirm her enthusiasm. In Greensboro, crime has plummeted 45
percent in five public housing communities since 1995. In High Point, crime
dropped 40 percent in the last two years. In Asheboro, there were 67 crimes
last year, down from 125 in 1996.

Besides preventing crime, the program builds valuable community relations.
Police become friends with residents and take deprived kids on field trips.
Youngsters learn that the police are their friends.

The Greensboro program pays for 10 police officers and a supervisor at five
housing communities. The Greensboro Housing Authority spent approximately
$362,000 of its $570,000 HUD grant on the program. High Point assigns eight
officers to housing communities and spent more than $116,000 of its
$291,000. Asheboro, with two officers at housing communities, spent $45,000
of its federal grant and another $15,000 of the agency's money on two
police officers.

Rankin, the Smith Homes resident, said, "If they take the federal funds
away, I would stand out on the street with a can asking for donations."
That, in a sense, is what local officials may be doing. Congress will vote
on the HUD budget next week, and pessimism prevails. Regional housing
authorities are already scouting for money from private foundations and
other federal grants.

With so many government programs failing to produce results, it makes
absolutely no sense to destroy one that clearly succeeds.