Herseth: President's Budget Eliminates Program Important to South Dakota Law Enforcement

HERSETH: PRESIDENT'S BUDGET ELIMINATES PROGRAM IMPORTANT TO SOUTH DAKOTA LAW ENFORCEMENT

Byrne-JAG Grant Program Helps State and Local Officials Battle Meth

February 16, 2006, Washington, D.C. - On a conference call with reporters today, U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth and South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) Director Kevin Thom discussed the effects of the proposed elimination of an important law enforcement grant program. The program, the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant, or Byrne-JAG, has been successful in helping state and local law enforcement fight crime and protect citizens, and in particular, the grant program has been a key weapon in the fight against illegal drugs like methamphetamine in South Dakota. The President's budget recommends completely eliminating the program.

Herseth supports the program as a key resource in the federal-state-local partnership to keep South Dakota safe. She said, "I believe that we need to view this grant program as a necessary investment in maintaining the safety of our schools, of our communities, of our neighborhoods into the future. Now is not the time to rest on our laurels and assume that crime will continue to be low without vigilance and adequate resources."

Herseth added that in recent years, South Dakota suffered not only from low overall funding levels, but from a funding formula that gives primary weight to population and crime rate. She said it is "a sort of perverse punishment for good work that also represents an inequity suffered by rural states with lower population densities."

http://www.house.gov/herseth/press_021606_lawenforce.htm