Press Releases
Oklahoman Editorial: Trump Administration Should Free Up Law Enforcement Grants
Washington, DC,
April 25, 2018
Tags:
Public Safety
An editorial in The Oklahoman today highlights the importance of Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance (Byrne JAG) Grants to law enforcement across the United States, and urges the Trump administration to stop playing politics by their withholding these public safety funds. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09) has long been one of the leading champions of Byrne JAG Grants in Congress. The text of the editorial follows: “The Trump administration is trying to crack down on “sanctuary cities,” a worthwhile goal. Cities that thumb their noses at federal law enforcement efforts need to be set straight. “Yet the Justice Department's effort is hindering locations, like Oklahoma City, that are not sanctuary cities and have no intention of becoming one. This is a problem that needs to be resolved. “The Oklahoman's Bill Crum reported recently about how the Justice Department's decision to delay release of the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant is impacting local law enforcement. The grant has been provided for many years, and this year Oklahoma City was expected to receive $275,000 of the $1.059 million given to cities and counties across Oklahoma. The state was to receive an additional $2.4 million of the total distributed nationwide. “But last July, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Justice Department would “only provide Byrne JAG grants to cities and states that comply with federal law, allow federal immigration access to detention facilities, and provide 48 hours' notice before they release an illegal alien wanted by federal authorities.” “Sessions said it was important to “encourage these ‘sanctuary' jurisdictions to change their policies and partner with federal law enforcement to remove criminals.” He'll get no argument here on that goal. However, the agency is painting with too broad a brush and impacting jurisdictions that follow the law. “The Oklahoma City Police Department was hoping to use JAG funds to pay for a victim services coordinator position that was created in 2012 using the same funds, and to pay for four part-time employees to maintain a sex offender registry. “Both are important initiatives. The police department's victim services coordinator is a key part of the Family Justice Center opened in Oklahoma City in 2017, which provides help to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking. Using retired officers to help with the sex offender registry, as the department has done since 2008, frees up two active-duty officers to investigate cases of failure to register and to pursue charges if necessary. “Police Chief Bill Citty says he would like to see both JAG-funded programs made part of the city's general fund, and instead use future JAG funds to buy a new bomb robot. Whether either occurs remains to be seen; the city manager will decide whether general funds should cover the two current JAG programs. “In November, U.S. Reps. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-N.J., and Dave Reichert, R-Wash., wrote to Sessions urging him to change course. Delaying JAG funds, they wrote, “is punishing law enforcement” and “jeopardizes their ability to maintain law and order and do their job effectively.” “They're right. Citty says, “We're all suffering” over the administration's fight with sanctuary cities, primarily Chicago, with which it is embroiled in a lawsuit. This is unfair to Oklahoma City and other locations that follow the law. The Justice Department should make JAG funds available to those places.” Last December, Reps. Pascrell and David Reichert (R-WA-08) led 92 of their House colleagues in opposing the Justice Department’s federal immigration requirements on these law enforcement grants. In November 2017, Reps. Pascrell and Reichert wrote Attorney General Jeff Sessions in calling on the Justice Department to end its blockade of law enforcement grants. Also in November 2017, Rep. Pascrell, joined by Sens. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Reps. Frank Pallone (D-NJ-06), Albio Sires (D-NJ-08), Donald Payne, Jr. (D-NJ-10), Donald Norcross (D-NJ-01), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ-12), and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ-05) demanded the release of approximately $4 million in Fiscal Year 2017 funds New Jersey had been awarded from the Byrne JAG program that the Justice Department had embargoed for political reasons. |