[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 130 (Friday, August 1, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1649]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     SUPPORTING NATIONAL NIGHT OUT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON-LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 29, 2008

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker. I support this resolution and 
encourage my colleagues to do the same. This resolution is important 
today as Americans are desirous of making America a better, safer 
place. This resolution recognizes the importance of community policing 
and crime prevention.
  Because the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne-
JAG) Program at fiscal year have been severely cut in America, we must 
be vigilant and ensure that America and our neighborhoods remain safe. 
The Byrne-JAG monies are supposed to be used to make America a safer 
place.
  Byrne-JAG allows states and local governments to support a broad 
range of activities to prevent and control crime and to improve the 
criminal justice system, which states and local governments have come 
to rely on to ensure public safety. They support: law enforcement, 
prosecution and court programs, prevention and education, corrections 
and community programs, drug treatment, planning, evaluation, 
technology improvement programs, and crime victim and witness programs 
(other than compensation). In short, they are an indispensable resource 
that states use to combat crime.
  Unfortunately, in fiscal year 2008 the Byrne-JAG program was cut by 
two-thirds. Although Congress authorized over $1 billion, only $520 
million were appropriated for fiscal year 2007. The appropriation was 
then drastically reduced to $170.4 million in fiscal year 2008, and the 
President has proposed further cuts for the fiscal year 2009 budget.
  The continuing cuts seem to indicate that information regarding the 
success of the program has not been brought to the attention of members 
of Congress or to the Administration. Therefore, H. Res. 1324, 
recognizes that the President should focus on neighborhood crime 
prevention.
  The trend to reduce the grant funding may result, in part, from 
instances where Byrne-JAG funding has been abused. For example, in 1999 
Byrne-JAG funding was used in the infamous Tulia outrage in which a 
rogue police narcotics officer in Texas set up dozens of people, most 
of them African-American, in false cocaine trafficking charges. In 
other instances, jurisdictions used the funding to fund task forces 
focused solely on ineffective, low-level drug arrests, which has put 
the task force concept-and the diminished standards of drug enforcement 
that it has come to represent-in the national spotlight.
  The most well-known Byrne-funded scandal occurred in Tulia, Texas 
where dozens of African American residents (representing 16 percent of 
the town's black population) were arrested, prosecuted and sentenced to 
decades in prison, even though the only evidence against them was the 
uncorroborated testimony of one white undercover officer with a history 
of lying and racism. The undercover officer worked alone, and had no 
audiotapes, video surveillance, or eyewitnesses to collaborate his 
allegations. Suspicions eventually arose after two of the accused 
defendants were able to produce firm evidence showing they were out of 
state or at work at the time of the alleged drug buys. Texas Governor 
Rick Perry eventually pardoned the Tulia defendants (after four years 
of imprisonment), but these kinds of scandals continue to plague the 
Byrne grant program.
  These scandals are not the result of a few ``bad apples'' in law 
enforcement; they are the result of a fundamentally flawed bureaucracy 
that is prone to corruption by its very structure. Byrne-funded 
regional anti-drug task forces are federally funded, state managed, and 
locally staffed, which means they do not really have to answer to 
anyone. In fact, their ability to perpetuate themselves through asset 
forfeiture and federal funding makes them unaccountable to local 
taxpayers and governing bodies.
  But, reducing the funding is not the answer. Instead, we should 
encourage the President to invest in America and keep our neighborhoods 
safe, H. Res. 1324 does just that. I urge my colleagues to support it.

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