blueturk
03-04-2005, 01:10 PM
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/11037357.htm
With great fanfare, Dubya appointed his wife to be in charge of initiatives to keep kids out of gangs,and also announced that $150 million dollars was earmarked for this grand vision. What he failed to mention is that his new federal budget would virtually decimate a lot of anti-gang programs that already exist. Well, I guess Laura probably needs something to do anyway....
March 3, 2005
Plans to slash anti-gang funds generate howls
But Bush highlights first lady's program
WILLIAM DOUGLAS
Knight Ridder
WASHINGTON - With 82 gangs boasting 1,500 members that roam his suburbs, Gerald Connolly, the board chairman of Fairfax County, Va., was thrilled when President Bush announced last month a new $150 million program to reduce gang membership across the country.
But the thrill was gone when Connolly saw Bush's proposed $2.6 trillion 2006 federal budget a few days later, because it proposed to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to state and local programs that help troubled kids and anti-gang efforts.
Many lawmakers and law enforcers say Bush's proposed spending cuts will have a devastating impact on needed programs at a time when youth gangs present a pervasive nationwide problem.
"He's offering modest assistance on one hand, while proposing draconian reductions on the other hand in terms of intervention and prevention programs," said Connolly, a Democrat. "It's a good thing to have $150 million and it provides good public relations cover. But the only additional resources they're providing is $150 million over three years for the entire country?"
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Sgt. Beth Boggess is disturbed that her Gang Intelligence Unit may lose $39,000 in federal funding. The money helps a program that targets youths who are either in gangs or interested in getting out of them.
"We'll have to look for other grants to support the program," she said. "We're looking for funding from the City Council, but that's up in the air."
There are about 21,500 gangs nationwide with more than 731,500 members, according to a 2002 Justice Department study. The report also states that gang membership dropped by 14 percent between 1996 and 2002.
But many law enforcement experts say the Justice Department statistics are outdated. They say the numbers don't reflect a growing gang problem fueled by poverty; a return to the streets of older gang members released from prisons; a growing immigrant population; and the rise of foreign-based gangs such as El Salvador's Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13.
Bush spotlighted the problem in his State of the Union address, when he assigned his wife, first lady Laura Bush, to oversee his three-year, $150 million program. But then he unveiled those proposed budget cuts. Among them:
• He would slash the Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS, program from $499 million this year to $22 million in fiscal 2006. COPS gives local law enforcement agencies federal money to hire more police and improve their equipment.
• He would eliminate the Juvenile Accountability Block Grant program, which provided $54 million this year to help prosecutors address gang, drug and violence problems.
• He would cut more than $412 million from education, after-school, and family support programs that help kids stay away from gangs, according to Sanford Newman, president of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, a Washington-based coalition of police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors and crime victims.
"The unfortunate fact is we were making significant headway in controlling gang activity," said James Alan Fox, a criminal justice professor at Boston's Northeastern University. "The cuts are unfortunate because gang activity has made a resurgence.
"What will $150 million buy you? Maybe $10 per kid," Fox said. "You look at the cost and devastation that gang violence brings and $150 million sounds like a token amount for something for Laura Bush to do. It's a feel-good thing."
White House officials say the new program and the proposed budget cuts reflect a shifting of resources from methods that haven't worked to a new approach that highlights local programs that get results.
With great fanfare, Dubya appointed his wife to be in charge of initiatives to keep kids out of gangs,and also announced that $150 million dollars was earmarked for this grand vision. What he failed to mention is that his new federal budget would virtually decimate a lot of anti-gang programs that already exist. Well, I guess Laura probably needs something to do anyway....
March 3, 2005
Plans to slash anti-gang funds generate howls
But Bush highlights first lady's program
WILLIAM DOUGLAS
Knight Ridder
WASHINGTON - With 82 gangs boasting 1,500 members that roam his suburbs, Gerald Connolly, the board chairman of Fairfax County, Va., was thrilled when President Bush announced last month a new $150 million program to reduce gang membership across the country.
But the thrill was gone when Connolly saw Bush's proposed $2.6 trillion 2006 federal budget a few days later, because it proposed to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to state and local programs that help troubled kids and anti-gang efforts.
Many lawmakers and law enforcers say Bush's proposed spending cuts will have a devastating impact on needed programs at a time when youth gangs present a pervasive nationwide problem.
"He's offering modest assistance on one hand, while proposing draconian reductions on the other hand in terms of intervention and prevention programs," said Connolly, a Democrat. "It's a good thing to have $150 million and it provides good public relations cover. But the only additional resources they're providing is $150 million over three years for the entire country?"
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Sgt. Beth Boggess is disturbed that her Gang Intelligence Unit may lose $39,000 in federal funding. The money helps a program that targets youths who are either in gangs or interested in getting out of them.
"We'll have to look for other grants to support the program," she said. "We're looking for funding from the City Council, but that's up in the air."
There are about 21,500 gangs nationwide with more than 731,500 members, according to a 2002 Justice Department study. The report also states that gang membership dropped by 14 percent between 1996 and 2002.
But many law enforcement experts say the Justice Department statistics are outdated. They say the numbers don't reflect a growing gang problem fueled by poverty; a return to the streets of older gang members released from prisons; a growing immigrant population; and the rise of foreign-based gangs such as El Salvador's Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13.
Bush spotlighted the problem in his State of the Union address, when he assigned his wife, first lady Laura Bush, to oversee his three-year, $150 million program. But then he unveiled those proposed budget cuts. Among them:
• He would slash the Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS, program from $499 million this year to $22 million in fiscal 2006. COPS gives local law enforcement agencies federal money to hire more police and improve their equipment.
• He would eliminate the Juvenile Accountability Block Grant program, which provided $54 million this year to help prosecutors address gang, drug and violence problems.
• He would cut more than $412 million from education, after-school, and family support programs that help kids stay away from gangs, according to Sanford Newman, president of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, a Washington-based coalition of police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors and crime victims.
"The unfortunate fact is we were making significant headway in controlling gang activity," said James Alan Fox, a criminal justice professor at Boston's Northeastern University. "The cuts are unfortunate because gang activity has made a resurgence.
"What will $150 million buy you? Maybe $10 per kid," Fox said. "You look at the cost and devastation that gang violence brings and $150 million sounds like a token amount for something for Laura Bush to do. It's a feel-good thing."
White House officials say the new program and the proposed budget cuts reflect a shifting of resources from methods that haven't worked to a new approach that highlights local programs that get results.