Pubdate: Fri, 06 Apr 2001 Source: Bakersfield Californian (CA) Copyright: 2001, The Bakersfield Californian Contact: http://www.bakersfield.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/36 Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n600/a05.html VALLEY NEEDS MORE FBI AGENTS Suggestions that the FBI will transfer agents from the crime- and drug-plagued Central Valley have prompted protests from California's two U.S. senators and valley congressional representatives. We join these Democrat and Republican legislators in pleading with FBI Director Louis J. Freeh to assign more -- not fewer -- agents to the Eastern District of California, the federal judicial district that includes Kern County. Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, as well as Reps. Bill Thomas, Cal Dooley, Robert Matsui and George Radanovich sent a letter to Freeh last week pleading for increased federal law enforcement support for California's Central Valley High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. The lawmakers were responding to reports in the Sacramento Bee that the FBI is considering reassigning five agents now supporting the Central Valley HIDTA, as well as 14 other agents who assist in the region's drug enforcement. "Such a reassignment would be a wrong move at the wrong time, as the valley continues to be a major meth production center," they wrote. The federal Drug Enforcement Agency reports more than 90 percent of the nation's methamphetamine is produced in California, with about half coming from clandestine labs in the Central Valley. The valley is considered to be the hub of production for the U.S. Suggestions to reduce FBI support for the HIDTA comes at a time when local, state and federal elected officials have set a high priority on coordinating and intensifying law enforcement efforts. During a January Central Valley Methamphetamine Summit, participants identified the single biggest impediment to curbing drug trafficking is the lack of FBI agents assigned to the Eastern District of California (EDCA.) With 6 million people, the EDCA is the eighth most populous of the nation's 94 judicial districts, the legislators noted in their letter to Freeh. They also pointed out that four of the five most crime-ridden metropolitan areas in California (Modesto, Fresno, Stockton and Sacramento) are in the district. The district's crime rate is the highest among California's four judicial districts and 23rd among the nation's 94 districts. But despite these grim crime statistics, the EDCA, with 127 agents, has the fewest number of FBI agents among the California districts. This is a ratio of only one agent for 48,784 residents. The Northern District has 359 agents, or one per 19,891 residents; the Central District has 695, or one agent per 24,611 residents; and the Southern District has 233 agents, or one per 12,552 residents. The comparisons nationwide are equally pathetic. Citing the success of the HIDTA under staffing shortages, they pleaded with Freeh, "This region needs more FBI agents, not less." We join in that plea. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D