tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post110046720513001967..comments2024-03-25T20:06:39.794-05:00Comments on Grits for Breakfast: Spend Byrne Grant Money on Other Good StuffGritsforbreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-1102100744661148572004-12-03T13:05:00.000-06:002004-12-03T13:05:00.000-06:00Thanks, Narcotics, I've passed your note along to ...Thanks, Narcotics, I've passed your note along to the judge. If I may say so, though, your comments appear, to use the word recently popularized by Albert Gonzalez regarding the Geneva Conventions, a bit "quaint." It's not just one or two "bad apples," now, but many. See page 5 of <A HREF="http://www.blogger.com/r?http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aclutx.org%2Fnews%2FNarcoticsTaskForceReport.pdf">this report</A> and page 13 of <A HREF="http://www.blogger.com/r?http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aclu.org%2FFiles%2FgetFile.cfm%3Fid%3D15798">this one</A> for, between them, a partial list. (I know the judge is well aware of all those cases; were you?) Neither the judge nor I live in a county that any longer has a Byrne task force, so we couldn't ask our local commander. (In my case, Travis County's "Capital-Area" task force folded after a couple of civilians and one sheriff's deputy were killed in separate blown police raids.)Today, huge swaths of the state don't get Byrne grant money because they don't have task forces, and the ones remaining are <A HREF="http://www.blogger.com/r?http%3A%2F%2Fgritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com%2F2004%2F11%2Ftx-drug-task-force-support-dwindling.html">imploding right and left</A>.<br /><br />Meanwhile, everybody, apparently, but the narcotics cops themselves are starting to understand that the state <A HREF="http://www.blogger.com/r?http%3A%2F%2Fgritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com%2F2004%2F12%2Fharris-county-driving-incarceration.html">can't afford the failed strategy</A> of busting low level drug users with no end in sight.<br /><br />Rather than "the impact [the judge's] comments could make," if I were you I'd blame the U.S. Congress, which just <A HREF="http://www.blogger.com/r?http%3A%2F%2Fgritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com%2F2004%2F12%2Fdrug-task-forces-byrne-grants-cut.html">slashed Byrne grants</A> by 24%. It could have been worse. George Bush proposed abolishing the program entirely in each of his first four presidential budgets despite intense <A HREF="http://www.blogger.com/r?http%3A%2F%2Fgritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com%2F2004%2F10%2Fkerry-backs-drug-task-forces.html">opposition</A>. I understand he plans to spend the next four years spending his political capital to enact his agenda. Good luck.;-) <br /><br />Thanks for the comment, though, seriously. Come back and visit anytime.Gritsforbreakfasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.com