The initial assessment of President Bush's proposed budget for the Department of Justice for Fiscal Year 2002 (FY02) appears less then favorable for local law enforcement interests both in terms of funding opportunities and the possibility of increased federal interest in what has been traditionally "local" crime. The basic philosophy of the budget seems to be to remove federal funding for local law enforcement and redirect it towards federal programs and agencies.
Overview of the DOJ FY02 Budget
The key word for this year's budget is "redirected" -- not cut or eliminated. The president intends to finance some of his proposals by "redirecting" funds from some programs -- largely local law enforcement programs -- into others, which are primarily federal in nature. In his "Blueprint For New Beginnings" the president provides the rationale for the "redirection" thusly:
To a great degree, States and localities have proved themselves able to pursue vigorous law enforcement agendas without relying on Federal grant funding . . . Justice's State and local grant assistance programs have grown over five-fold since 1992, reaching $4.6 billion in 2001, spread across over 60 programs of varying size. The 2002 Budget proposes redirecting $1.5 billion from programs that have accomplished their initial objective, have been awarded on a non-competitive basis through legislative action, or are otherwise of questionable merit.
The redirected funds will go for increases for federal law enforcement agencies and selected state and local grants such as VAWA, Weed and Seed programs, projects "Child Safe" and "Sentry" (see below for information on both), drug treatment at state prisons and funding for local prosecutors along the southwest border.
Highlights of the DOJ FY02 Budget
Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS): Budget requests $100 million, of a five-year, $500 million effort, to upgrade INS service and increase the number of border patrol agents. The administration also proposes restructuring and splitting INS into two agencies with separate chains of command and accountability, reporting to a single policy leader in DOJ.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI): The budget requests $3.5 billion, an increase of eight percent over FY01. Most of the increase is targeted to combat terrorism and cybercrime by funding additional personnel and the development and deployment of new technical capabilities. The budget also includes resources for the FBI to provide security support for the winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA): Request proposes $1.5 billion for DEA, an increase of nine percent from last year.
Federal Prisons: Requests $4.7 billion for prisons, an eight percent increase, for new prison construction and activations, as well as additional contract bed space, all of which are needed to alleviate system-wide prison overcrowding. The budget includes $5 million to establish a faith-based, prison pre-release pilot program at four federal prisons. Includes $140 million to support additional detention beds to keep pace with the growth in criminal and alien detainee population.
U.S. Attorneys' Offices: Requests $1.3 billion, an increase of seven percent. Increase is to combat cybercrime based on the reliance businesses have placed on the Internet. The budget also includes resources for the U.S. attorneys to handle an overload of habeas corpus cases and to establish "Project Sentry." Project Sentry will devote $9 million annually to fund a dedicated juvenile gun prosecutor in each of the 94 U.S. attorneys' offices.
Drug Enforcement Initiatives: In setting forth his initiatives to combat drug abuse, the president's "blueprint" states that:
Drug abuse imposes a variety of costs on the Nation. These costs include cash costs for the investigation and prosecution of drug-related crimes and the incarceration and treatment of drug offenders, property losses of crime victims and insurance companies, and lost earnings due to illness and premature death. The total costs associated with drug abuse are estimated to exceed $100 billion annually. This figure does not capture the human costs associated with drug abuse -- wasted opportunities, families torn apart, and lives lost.
The Plan of Action
Teaching Children to Avoid Drugs: The president wants to empower parents and community and faith-based groups to fight drugs. A 1997 General Accounting Office (GAO) study found that community coalitions present promising programs to prevent drug abuse by teenagers. The FY02 Budget includes $50 million, a 20 percent increase, for the Drug Free Communities Support Program. The request also includes $5 million in matching funds to mobilize a Parent Drug Corps to train parents in how to fight drug abuse.
Upgrading the Drugfree Workplace Program: The Drug Free Workplace Program gives grants to organizations that help small businesses develop employee education programs and company drug policies. The budget request includes $5 million for the program.
Closing the Treatment Gap/Increasing Support for Effective Treatment: The budget would provide help to those dependent on drugs and will help them rebuild their lives. While there are a variety of treatment initiatives, the president's plan expresses two main concerns -- the approaches must be evidence-based, and there must be real accountability for recipients.
Treatment-related initiatives include: Doubling the budget for the National Institutes of Health over the next two years; providing $111 million of additional funding to increase access to substance abuse treatment and help to close the treatment gap.
As part of the drug treatment initiative, the budget proposes $74 million ($11 million more than in 2001) for the Residential Substance Abuse Treatment program, which provides formula grants supporting drug and alcohol treatment in state and local correctional facilities. Faith-based treatment programs will be eligible to compete for these funds.
DOJ will promote drug-free federal prisons through on-going drug testing of all prisoners and treatment of eligible inmates.
Drug courts are an effective and cost efficient way to help non-violent drug offenders. DOJ will support local drug courts that combine drug testing with effective monitoring at the 2001 level of $50 million.
International Drug Efforts: The FY02 Budget requests more than $500 million in new funding to maintain programs to support Plan Colombia to bring greater economic and political stability to the region and a peaceful resolution to Colombia's internal conflict. There is also a request for an additional $278 million to upgrade drug interdiction efforts of the U.S. Coast Guard and Customs Service.
Improving Anti-Drug Technology: There is a request for additional funding to provide new technology to improve interdiction and coordination among law enforcement. The FY02 Budget includes $40 million for the Counterdrug Technology Assessment Center, an increase of $4 million, to provide state-of-the-art tools to enhance the capabilities of state and local law enforcement agencies for counterdrug missions.
Helping Southwest Border Prosecutors: Federal drug arrests occurring near the southwest border are frequently referred to local prosecutors because the quantity of drugs seized is too small to meet the threshold set by local U.S. attorneys for federal prosecution. The budget provides an additional $50 million to assist counties near the southwest border with the costs of prosecuting and detaining these cases. U.S. attorneys will also be directed to revise drug seizure thresholds warranting federal prosecution, thereby increasing federal drug trafficking prosecutions. Grants will be administered by the Department of Justice and awarded based on southwest border county caseloads for processing, detaining, and prosecuting drug and alien cases referred from federal arrests.
Meth Lab Cleanup: The FY02 Budget includes $20 million to assist state and local law enforcement agencies with the costs associated with meth cleanup, along with $28 million to aid meth enforcement.
Projects Sentry and Child Safe: The budget proposes a new federal-state partnership by creating "Safe Schools Task Forces" to coordinate prosecutorial resources devoted to promoting school safety through appropriate firearms prosecutions.
"Project Sentry" is part of this initiative. Existing Department of Justice State and local Safe School grants will fund the state and local partnerships with a proposed $20 million.
"Project Child Safe" will ensure that child safety locks are available for every handgun in America by providing $75 million annually in federal matching funds through DOJ states and local governments will receive $65 million annually to assist the purchase and distribution of safety locks.
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