[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 119 (Saturday, August 20, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 20, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
               PROPOSED CRIME BILL DELIVERS SMALL RETURN

  (Mr. COLLINS of Georgia asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks and include 
extraneous material.)
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I would like to read a letter 
from Louis M. Dekmar, the police chief of the city of Morrow, GA. 
Morrow, GA, is a suburban city within 12 miles of downtown Atlanta.
  He says:

       Dear Congressman Collins: I want to share with you my 
     concern regarding the President's Crime Bill, and thank you 
     for voting in a manner that precluded this pending 
     legislation from becoming law.
       Those that support the crime bill tout the 100,000 
     additional police officers as a remedy to address the serious 
     crime that plagues many American cities. I do not believe 
     increasing law enforcement by 20% will have the impact 
     President Clinton and many in Congress would have us believe.
       The fact is police officers frequently arrest offenders--
     what frequently does not occur is incarceration for those 
     same offenders. Criminals that are jailed are released early, 
     not because they are deserving, but because there is no room. 
     Some argue we cannot afford to keep criminals in jail. I 
     submit, and studies conducted by the Rand Corporation and the 
     National Institute of Justice conclude, that we cannot afford 
     not to. According to research conducted by the National 
     Institute of Justice in 1988, repeat offenders commit on 
     average 187 crimes a year, at a cost to victims of $430,000 
     annually. More police on the street, without additional 
     prisons, translates into a few more arrests and a continual 
     demonstration that the criminal justice system is ineffective 
     in dealing with those arrested.
       I refer you to the F.B.I. Uniform Crime Report for 1988 and 
     1992; 1988 reflects 485,566 full time police officers making 
     13.8 million arrests; 1992 shows 544,309 police officers 
     making 14.1 million arrests. This 10.8% increase in police 
     officers over five years yielded 2.1% more arrests. I ask you 
     to consider whether it is money well spent to increase the 
     nations police departments by 20% for a less than 5% return. 
     It is my opinion the money would be better spent focused 
     solely on prison related programs and law enforcement 
     technical support services.
       Presently in Georgia, the public receives rationed law 
     enforcement services. Not for a lack of police officers, but 
     because the technical positions in the Georgia Bureau of 
     Investigation state crime laboratories did not have the 
     funding to employ sophisticated criminalistics in all 
     criminal cases. For example: (1) the use of DNA is restricted 
     to serious violent crimes. The current protocol does not 
     allow the DNA identification of a burglar who leaves his 
     blood on a broken window pane in an unoccupied residence. A 
     woman must first be raped in that residence, to justify the 
     use of the DNA service. (2) Hair evidence is no longer 
     processed for evidentiary value. (3) Latent prints are only 
     processed for murder cases by state laboratory personnel. (4) 
     Toxicological test results exceed a couple of months, 
     delaying criminal cases, and autopsy results which delays the 
     filing of a death certificate. This delay further impacts the 
     victims grieving family. (5) Personnel are not available to 
     check suspect firearms against opened homicides. (6) AFIS 
     (Automatic Fingerprint Identification System) computer 
     entries take three or more months for a result.
       In short, many opportunities for maximizing the evidentiary 
     value of an item are lost because state laboratory resources 
     do not exist to serve the current number of Georgia police 
     officers.
       Please do not interpret my remarks as being critical of the 
     G.B.I. state laboratory system. To the contrary, they do a 
     magnificent job under very trying conditions. Although the 
     last five years in Georgia reflects the highest crime rate 
     ever experienced, G.B.I. has not increased the number of 
     scientific examiners since 1988. They want to provide the 
     services, but cannot.
       My hope is that Congress will take our limited revenues and 
     fund a crime program that will make a difference. In my 
     opinion law enforcement and the public's safety would be 
     better served if Congress provided block grants to the States 
     for corrections and law enforcement technical support 
     services. The public must be confident that when they fall 
     prey to a crime, everything possible is going to be done to 
     identify the offender and that there will be room in our 
     prisons to punish that offender.
       Thank you for standing firm in your desire to pass a real 
     crime bill. If you require any information please feel free 
     to call me.
           Sincerely,
                                                  Louis M. Dekmar,
     Chief of Police.

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