Pubdate: Thu, 22 Jan 2004
Source: Commercial Appeal (TN)
Copyright: 2004 The Commercial Appeal
Contact:  http://www.gomemphis.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/95
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/public+safety

CRIME FIGHTERS FACE UPHILL BATTLE

Tennessee law enforcement officers and district attorneys are on the
road this week presenting a persuasive case that the state's
commitment to the protection of its citizens is slipping.

Citing factors that ranged from low pay for prosecutors to weak laws
against methamphetamine offenders, the Tennessee Public Safety
Coalition is telling newspaper editorial boards, state lawmakers and
other groups across the state that the people are losing ground
against a criminal foe that is gathering strength.

Sheriff's department budgets are failing to keep pace with the demands
on them, particularly in rural areas where the meth epidemic is
raging. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has absorbed cutbacks.
District attorney offices are undermanned and underpaid.

Why have government, Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Bill Gibbons asked
in a meeting with the editorial board of the The Commercial Appeal, if
not to provide an adequate degree of public safety?

Knox County Dist. Atty. Gen. Randy Nichols maintained the state was
becoming a national laughingstock for its lax attitude toward crime
and a "save haven" for methamphetamine producers filling orders for
addicts throughout the Southeast.

Beefing up state spending on prosecutors by about $5 million would not
completely make up for lost ground, but it would be a start, members
of the group said.

The primary obstacle to achieving these goals is formidable, though.
State government is still grappling with limitations imposed by its
decision, under intense public pressure, to forego substantive tax
reform. Lawmakers believe voters have made one thing clear: They favor
a lean state government and minimal taxation. If services have to be
sacrificed to achieve those goals, so be it.

And once again this year, legislative leaders say, balancing the
government's spending with anticipated revenue growth will be a
difficult challenge. The 2004-2005 budget will exceed this year's
estimated $21.9 billion budget, of which about $9.9 billion is being
produced by state tax funds. Only a small percentage of the budget,
however, is truly discretionary.

"We're going to balance the budget and do it without any new taxes and
try to go home early," House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, D-Covington, said
of this year's session.

Much depends on the resolution of a financial crunch in the $7.1
billion TennCare health insurance program that no longer can be
ignored. A consulting firm told state officials last month that if it
continues along its current path TennCare will consume virtually all
of the state's revenue growth in the next five years.

The program, which covers 1.3 million of Tennessee's 5.7 million
residents, is being drained by the rising costs of drugs, professional
services and outpatient services as well as enrollment growth.

Commissioners of the state's 21 cabinet-level departments and
directors of other large agencies recently outlined how they plan to
make 5 percent across-the-board cuts to help ease the state's fiscal
burdens. The state has no control over some of those burdens.

Tennessee, for example, has to comply with a state Supreme Court order
to improve teacher salaries in poorer school districts. It also must
comply with a federal court mandate to improve the performance of the
Department of Children's Services in its administration of the foster
care program.

Still, the proposals generated by the law enforcement group deserve a
fair hearing.

The coalition is asking state legislators to fund 46 new state
prosecutors statewide, including nine in Shelby County, raise the pay
scale for prosecutors and restore step pay raises that the General
Assembly did not fund last year. The package would cost the state
about $5 million in its first year.

District attorneys describe the proposal as modest, estimating that an
updated caseload study probably would reveal the need for 200 more
prosecutors to keep pace with the demands.

Law enforcement officers also advocate increasing penalties for
methamphetamine use, manufacturing and distribution on a par with
cocaine offenses. Tennessee, they argue persuasively, should make a
more concerted attack on a drug epidemic that often is associated with
violent crime.

They would make noncompliance with the state's Sexual Offender
Registration and Monitoring Act a felony rather than a misdemeanor,
and require tighter monitoring of convicted sex offenders. All of
which would raise the cost of law enforcement in Tennessee.

There's no question the investments would be beneficial. Investments,
of course, require capital, and finding it will be the real challenge
for the crime fighters and their allies in the General Assembly.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin