Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Balko on Obama on Crime

I've generally avoided presidential election discussions on Grits since many, many other blogs perform that function with much more focus and enthusiasm than I could ever provide. But like Doc Berman, I wanted to recommend Radley Balko's critique of Barack Obama's crime policy at Slate, "Bad Cop: Why Obama is getting criminal justice wrong," in particular because of his dead-on analysis of Democrats' backing for pork barrel grant programs designed to make them look tough on crime.

Of special interest to me was Balko's analysis related to the federally funded drug task forces like the ones in the infamous Tulia and Hearne cases. (He even cites a report I authored in 2002 on the topic for the Texas ACLU!) This entire portion of Balko's piece, in particular, falls under the category of "Wish I'd written it. Agree with all of it":
Obama and Biden also want to revive the Byrne grant drug eradication program, another block grant initiative. At a speech last month in Florida, Obama promised to ensure funding for the Byrne program, adding that it "has been critical to creating the anti-gang and anti-drug task forces our communities need." Although Byrne has not failed to achieve its stated goal (reducing the availability of illicit drugs), it has made drug policing more aggressive and militaristic and less accountable. And by prioritizing raw arrest statistics, the program tends to focus police efforts on low-level offenders instead of major distributors.

Because they tend to be multijurisdictional, no sheriff or police chief oversees the investigations of Byrne task forces. They are "effectively accountable to no one, least of all the communities they purportedly aim to serve and protect," says Graham Boyd, director of the Drug Law Reform Project for the ACLU, which has documented abuses by Byrne-funded task forces all over the country.

In Texas, Byrne-sponsored task forces created so many problems that much of the state has stopped participating in the program. A Byrne-funded operation was in charge of the 1999 debacle in Tulia, Texas, in which 46 people were arrested based on the word of a lying undercover police officer, Tom Coleman. Most of the 46 were later released and shared in a $6 million settlement. The next year, another Byrne task force arrested 28 people in Hearne, Texas, based solely on the word of a police informant who also proved to be a liar.

Because Byrne grants are given out primarily on raw arrest statistics, they also distort the way drug investigations are handled. Take the use of drug informants. Typically, police arrest a low-level drug offender, then try to make a deal with him to give up his supplier. They then continue their way up the ladder as far into the operation as they can go. But when funding for a task force depends on the number of arrests it makes, the incentive is instead to go down the ladder. A midlevel distributor may supply dozens of lower-level dealers, who boost the arrest numbers. Investigators thus have a reason to cut deals with bigger players in exchange for giving up the street dealers they supply.

The Byrne program has been opposed by analysts for the Heritage Foundation, the American Conservative Union, and the National Taxpayers Union on the right as well as civil rights groups like the National Black Police Association, the Drug Policy Alliance, and the National Council of La Raza on the left. The Bush administration has been phasing Byrne grants out, just as it has with COPS grants.

But Obama, Biden, and Democratic leaders (as well as several Republicans) in Congress want to bring the Byrne grants back. Perhaps one reason is that they're essentially federal job programs for blue-collar workers. They're also strongly backed by police unions and police organizations that, despite the GOP's image as the party that's tougher on crime, have traditionally supported Democrats. (The National Association of Police Organizations endorsed Obama last month and Kerry and Gore before him.) Members of Congress from both parties also benefit when they can put out press releases announcing a big federal grant for the police department back home.

Obama's support for these programs is particularly disappointing given the sensible things he said previously about crime, not to mention his experience as a law professor and community organizer. Sending big federal checks to local police departments may help repudiate GOP efforts to make Democrats look soft on crime. But it reinforces another Democrat cliché—that there's no problem that can't be solved with a wad of federal cash.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Blah Blah Blah...... Same old same old. I hate task forces. Someday you will have to tell us why you hate cops mainly narcs.

Gritsforbreakfast said...

3:30, I've written so much on the topic that if my position isn't clear by now (and certainly it's not as you portray it), you'll likely never understand.

If you like the task force model so much, vote Obama - he and Biden want to reinstate their funding.

Anonymous said...

While I'm usually in whole agreement with your insights and do agree that the "war on drugs" task forces are about as successful as Iraq and Vietnam, PLEASE tell don't say you think there is an alternative to the Democratic ticket....

Gritsforbreakfast said...

Well, OBVIOUSLY there's an alternative to the Democratic ticket! Don't underestimate Grandpa Simpson and Tina Fey, they could surprise you yet.

I'm not telling anybody which way to vote based on this one (very narrow) issue. I'm identifying a position that appears to have been staked out by the Democratic candidate for purposes of pork-barrel political pandering during election season, and opposing it, as others have, and should. If he's elected, I frankly don't want his position on this to prevail.

FWIW, I criticized John Kerry during election season for the same thing four years ago on this blog, which is why the first commenter is grousing same ol', same old.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this information.

Anonymous said...

What is McCain's position on Byrne grant funding?

Gritsforbreakfast said...

McCain voted with Bush in the past to reduce it. Those were (mostly) party line votes.

Doc Berman quotes AP thusly:

"Republican John McCain also supports prison re-entry programs. But he did not mention COPS or Byrne grants. Instead, he promised to "restore credibility" to the existing grant programs, get rid of earmarks and give funding to the communities that need it — a similar approach to what is being done in the current administration when distributing homeland security grants."

Anonymous said...

I've had a run-in with that ACORN bunch - what a bunch of Brown Shirts. They disrupted our national anti-war convention in Austin demanding that we go disrupt public hearings at City Halls around the country.

The Weather Underground weren't any better. Obama on crime, indeed!

Anonymous said...

I wish you would have included some links to the sensible positions Obama has on crime. Would have been a nice more balanced touch...

As for McCain, it doesn't sound like he really knows anything about it. That is his answer for everything. Watch out or he might get mavericky! kind of like Palin did with that Trooper ex-brother in law in Alaska.

Anonymous said...

OBAMA 2008!