Budget Cuts To Law Enforcement Draw Ire.... Thurs. July 7, 2011.... By Chris Levister Published in BlackVoiceNews

Budget Cuts To Law Enforcement Draw Ire

THURSDAY, 07 JULY 2011 05:11

Attorney General Kamala Harris warns of "Gang-and-Drug Armageddon"

By Chris Levister –

In the early morning hours of June 7, 2011, an elite U.S., state and local multi-jurisdictional task force staged Operation "Bright Lights Big City", a back-breaking raid on members of the notorious Varrio Latino gang Azusa 13, they say conspired to rid the Southern California city of its Black residents. "It was hell on earth," recalls a Riverside mother of three (name withheld) who in 2007 escaped Azusa and the gang law enforcement say is tied to the Mexican Mafia.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris looks over some of the guns seized in a six-week sweep conducted by agents from the Department of Justice, 1,200 firearms were seized including one from a Azusa, California gang targeting African Americans.

Azusa Police Chief Robert Garcia said Azusa 13's attacks included scrawling racial epithets on African-Americans' homes and street violence that last year targeted a Black high school student walking home from a track meet.

According to the latest U.S. Census information, about 64% of the city's 47,000 residents are Hispanic and nearly 4% are Black.

"This is not the first Southern California gang accused of racially-motivated attacks. The Avenues in Highland Park, Varrio Hawaiian Gardens and Florencia 13 in South L.A. are all Latino gangs whose members have faced state or federal civil rights charges for attacking and killing African- Americans," said state Attorney General Kamala Harris.

The Azusa 13 gang adopted a racist principle "that members of the gang will harass and use violence to drive African- Americans out of the City of Azusa and would use violence in order to prevent African-Americans from moving into the City," according to U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr.

The kind of multi-jurisdictional cooperation seen in the Azusa 13 raid is in serious jeopardy Harris warned Friday, following the passage of an $86 million budget signed by Governor Jerry Brown last week without a single GOP vote. We're looking at "Gang-and-Drug Armageddon."

Harris and members of other state and local public safety agencies came out swinging after a Democrat led Legislature passed and an on time budget that would see a $35.8 million reduction in its law enforcement budget next fiscal year and another $35.2 million in the year after that.

A $71 million cut to the Division of Law Enforcement budget will "handcuff" the state Department of Justice's ability to fight gang violence and disrupt the flow of drugs, guns and human beings across our border, Harris said in a statement.

"The cuts will likely eliminate 55 state-led task forces that coordinate the response to our growing gang problem. The Bureau of Investigation and Intelligence and Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement will also likely be eliminated, as well as the investigative capacities of the newly formed Mortgage Fraud Strike Task Force. All told, several hundred agents, investigators, and other law enforcement positions will be lost, as will the ability to prosecute cases like these," said Harris.

That $71 million cut could cost the DOJ another $40 million in matching federal funds over the next two years, said Division of Law Enforcement Director Larry Wallace.

"We could be looking at cuts in excess of $100 million," he said. "It's unprecedented, unsafe and unsustainable to the Department of Justice and it will greatly handcuff California law enforcement. We could lose up to 600 law enforcement positions if we take this hit, and possibly have to eliminate the bureau of narcotic enforcement and the bureau of investigations and intelligence."

The president of the California Statewide Law Enforcement Association -- who happens to work as a DOJ special agent -- Alan Barcelona accused Democrats of welcoming drug gangs to California and called the budget cut "absolutely astounding."

"At a time when our local law enforcement agencies are being stretched to the point of layoffs due to their own budget problems, they do not have the fiscal capacity or the authority to handle the responsibilities of coordinating multijurisdictional task forces to stop the flood of drugs and gangs from flowing into our state," said Barcelona.

Also unhappy: California Chief Justice Tani Cantil- Sakauye, who watched her court system lose $200 million in annual funding in March, then found out Monday that Democrats are aiming for another $150 million cut -- and are going to delay $310 million in court construction costs by putting those projects on hold for a year.

"I am completely dismayed and gravely concerned about how the proposed budget cuts will affect the judicial branch and the public we serve. The cumulative impact of the cuts to the courts in the last three years will have the effect of court closures, fewer services to court users, and the specter of more furloughs and layoffs for employees.

LOCAL IMPACT

State law enforcement officials aren't the only one's hopping mad over the budget cuts to public safety. "We're looking at impending disaster," warns San Bernardino District Attorney Mike Ramos. The district attorney's office would lose $2.1 million, leading to the loss of 33 positions. Ramos said he already has a backlog of 3,000 cases that he needs more staff to tackle.

The probation department would lose 77 positions in the budget. This also would be due to the vehicle tax cut, which will result in decreased programs for juvenile offenders and affect adult probation programs such as domestic violence, sex offender and gang units, Chief Probation Officer Michelle Scray said.

The Sheriff's Department has scrapped plans for a new crime lab and is using asset-forfeiture funds to avoid layoffs.

Riverside County is also bracing for more cuts and layoffs.

Sheriff Stan Sniff said public safety departments, including the sheriff, district attorney and fire, face cuts from 3 percent to 5 percent in his recommended budget.

Other departments will see, on average, 19 percent reductions.

Sniff has already sent out layoff notices. If he has to meet even lower budget projections, the first 100 layoffs would take place July 13 followed by another 100 on Aug. 10.

A group of city police chiefs wrote in early June that reductions in unincorporated patrols will increase the need for mutual aid at a time when cities also are struggling financially.

Speaking on behalf of law enforcement agencies and organizations across the state, AG Harris called on lawmakers to restore the money.

"Public safety is a basic right of all people and a core function of our government. For that reason I call on Governor Brown and the Legislature to immediately restore adequate funding to California law enforcement."

No More Debt Until Speinding is Cut Commentary (By Star Parker) Jan. 31, 2011

No More Debt Until Spending is Cut Commentary

The Republican take away from President

Obama's State of the Union address should be

unwavering opposition to an unconditional

increase in the U.S. debt limit.

The statutory debt ceiling of $14.3 trillion will

soon be reached. Republicans should oppose

increasing it to permit more borrowing without

meaningful spending cuts as part of the deal.

The vision that the president presented to the

nation in his speech, that we need more government, a lot more, to address the

challenges before us, shows he sees the world no differently than he did when he

entered office two years ago.

He's added a trillion dollars, almost a 40 percent increase, to federal government

spending over this time. The federal government's take from our economy has

increased from $1 out of every $5 to $1 out of every $4.

Aside from the point of principle that with every incremental increase in the scope of

government there is a corresponding decrease in the freedom of every citizen, there is

also no practical argument to justify this vast government takeover.

Unemployment has hardly budged and the economy, although recovering, remains

sluggish.

This economic machine clearly needs an oil change and a different kind of fuel. The

president clearly doesn't see things this way. Republicans need to offer a clear

alternative and let the American people choose.

If Republicans offer a bold alternative to seize control from politicians and bureaucrats

and return power and freedom to citizens, they can bet on public support.

Only 31 percent of Americans in a recent Gallup poll say they are "satisfied" with the

"size and power of the federal government." That's down 10 points from just two years

ago and down 20 points from 10 years ago.

Certainly it's true that when we get down to the details of what to cut, even many who

know that government has gotten out of hand push back when programs they are

used to are put on the block.

This is where leadership comes into the picture.

Just consider our last one-term Democrat president, Jimmy Carter. He became

president at a time of economic crisis in the 1970s, and his presidency was defined by

the vision that we needed more government to solve our problems.

Carter created two new departments: the Department of Energy in 1977 and the

Department of Education in 1979.

The Energy Department was created in response to the so-called "energy crisis." Its

annual budget has consumed more than $600 billion since it was created, and none of

this can be associated with production of one new barrel of oil, one new ton of coal or

one new cubic foot of natural gas.

Yet, a good portion of President Obama's State of the Union focused on proposed new

government-energy programs. The Energy Department will spend about $40 billion in

2010, up 70 percent from 2009.

Since 1970, federal government education spending per student has tripled with hardly

any impact on test scores.

Since inception, the Department of Education has spent almost a trillion dollars with

negligible impact on improving our children's education. It spent $100 billion in 2010, up

67 percent from 2009.

Yet, central to the president's education message is more federal dollars.

Republicans must stand firm on their proposed minimum of $100 billion in spending

cuts – a paltry 3 percent of the federal budget – before agreeing to raise the debt

ceiling. This could be easily pulled from the Energy and Education Departments alone.

We've got to decide if the center of gravity of our nation has shifted to government and

bureaucrats or if we can get it back to individuals and families.

This is the choice Republicans need to make clear.
_________________________________________________________

BS Ranch Perspective:

There has to be cuts in spending! The Federal Government along with the State's need to reduce spending for the entitlement programs that we cannot afford!! The newly elected Governor has surprised me, by the cuts that he did make in the first budget that he put together. I think that Jerry was on a good start, but the scratch of the surface that was done needs to be cut much deeper! Jerry needs to get to work, and get started to clean up the budget, and get it done to reduce the spending to less then what is taken in each year, and attempt to pay down the increasing debt that is growing and growing and growing etc... etc...

BS Ranch