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Posted by: kwflatbed

By Ryan Harris
The Chattanooga Times Free Press

Members of regional drug interdiction teams said they fear their task forces could disband if funding isn't restored to a federal grant program.
President Bush hasn't requested any funding this year for the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant, which is the financial backbone for many area drug interdiction teams, officials said.
Instead, the president is proposing to consolidate more than 70 grant programs in a move that will cut funding drastically and, in some cases, may drive drug teams to extinction, local law officers said.
"Small task forces won't be around anymore," said Roy Sain, director of the 12th Judicial District Drug Task Force based in Jasper, Tenn. The team serves Bledsoe, Franklin, Grundy, Marion, Rhea and Sequatchie counties in Tennessee.
The president's budget plan calls for $200 million to create the Byrne Public Safety and Protection Program, according to Department of Justice spokesman Erik Ablin.
The Byrne grant was funded at $450 million last year, records show.
U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden Jr., D-Del., said the program was funded at about $2 billion in the 1990s. He wrote a letter to President Bush asking for the funds to be restored.
Local drug teams are unsure what the funding cut will mean to their coffers, but those units that aren't completely reliant on proceeds from property and cash seizures are bracing for a doomsday scenario.
Larry Black, commander of the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit Drug Task Force in North Georgia, said the federal grant is paramount in paying for manpower, building leases and utilities. And he said cuts could impact more than drug investigations.
"There are so many other major crimes and case investigations that are spinoff-type investigations from our drug arrests," Mr. Black said. "Throughout the years since we've had our task force we've solved homicides, armed robberies (and) residential burglaries."
The task force serves Walker, Chattooga, Catoosa and Dade counties in Georgia.
Catoosa County Sheriff Phil Summers said his office is reimbursed each year about $100,000 to provide two officers for the task force. He said the county may not be able to pick up that bill if the grant ends.
"For the money to be totally cut, it creates the very real possibility that (the task force) would cease altogether," he said.
Drug officers are lobbying lawmakers to restore the grant.
Mike Hall, director of the 10th Judicial District Drug Task Force in Charleston, Tenn., is visiting lawmakers in Washington this weekend.
He said his task force is supported fully by seizures, mainly from drug busts on Interstate 75. But he said his office also relies on partnerships with neighboring drug teams that could disband without grant funding.
"We're in the fight of our lives right now. There are more drugs out there now than 10 years ago," Mr. Hall said.
There is bipartisan support in Congress to fund the grant from lawmakers such as Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga. He said in a statement that "we have to give our local law enforcement personnel the resources they need to carry out their duties."

Wire service

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