Law enforcement efforts at risk State officials decry federal proposal to trim, omit funds for programs

AUGUSTA – A wide range of Maine law enforcement activities will have to be curtailed or eliminated if Congress approves funding levels proposed by President Bush and adopted by a key U.S. House committee.

“It will have a tremendous negative effect on our ability to investigate and prosecute drug traffickers in the state,” said Maine Attorney General Steve Rowe. “If somebody is addicted to a drug, he or she will engage in most any behavior they need to, to get that drug, and that can be assaults and property crimes.”

Rowe said the ripple impact of reducing overall federal grants to the states by 45 percent, as proposed by the House Appropriations Committee, would be sweeping.

When Congress passed similar cuts last year, Maine lawmakers had to raise fines for several drug-related offenses just to keep the state’s Drug Task Force on life support, he said.

“But that will not be enough to keep the task force doing what it should be doing if these additional cuts are made,” he said.

While the major impact of the cuts will be on enforcing drug laws, Rowe said a wide range of programs that help local law enforcement with everything from training to new equipment, also will suffer.

Cumberland County Sheriff Mark Dion said some members of Congress apparently want to force local law enforcement to choose between homeland security and public safety.

He said grant money continues to flow for homeland security projects while programs such as the Juvenile Assistance Block Grant program have been slated for elimination.

“It’s an unfair choice,” he said. “I don’t know that local officials have realized what is going on and that down the road they are going to be hit with big increases in local taxes to do what needs to be done.”

Robert Schwartz, executive director of the Maine Chiefs of Police Association, said the federal budget cuts are a concern of police chiefs across the state. He said that during the June meeting of the association members decided to send letters to the congressional delegation urging that funds be restored.

“There are a lot of concerns,” he said. “I think with some departments they have been getting grants from homeland security and they mix up the two. These are basic policing type programs being cut.”

Last year Congress folded several separate grant programs for law enforcement into two programs, the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant Program and the Edward Byrne Memorial Formula Grant program.

The problem, said Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, is that the reductions in funding were supposed to be from the streamlining of the grant process. But the cuts far exceed the administrative savings accomplished by that change, she said.

“The administration, unfortunately, completely zeroed out the program for the fiscal year 2006 budget,” Collins said. “The good news is the Senate Appropriations Committee has rejected zeroing out the program.”

Collins said the level of funding proposed by the Senate committee – $177 million – is well above the $110 million level approved by the House Appropriations Committee, although it also represents a cut.

“I am very concerned about the cuts in this area,” she said, “but the battle will be finding other offsets in the budget to pay for additional funding in this area.”

Democratic Rep. Mike Michaud of Maine agreed with Collins. He said he hopes the Senate’s higher number will prevail when the conference committee meets to work out the differences between the two chambers on that part of the budget.

“These grants are just so important to law enforcement,” Michaud said. “We need more funds to help local police, not less.”

Maine’s congressional delegation has been getting a stream of letters from state lawmakers and state officials urging their support for additional funds for the law enforcement programs.

“Maine needs your sustained help, and your strong advocacy, to help secure the funding to continue this effective law enforcement program,” wrote Public Safety Commissioner Michael Cantara.

The state Legislature’s Criminal Justice Committee also has written the delegation urging restoration of funds to the current budget level.

Congress is supposed to act on the appropriations bill that contains the funds for the programs before Oct. 1.