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By DORIS COOK
Staff Writer
dcook@starbeacon.com
JEFFERSON - The loss of federal grant dollars will affect the drug
enforcement operations next year of the Trumbull, Ashtabula & Geauga (TAG)
Law Enforcement Task Force if county commissioner boards do not put in more
matching funds, said TAG project manager Jeff Orr.
Orr met Tuesday with Ashtabula County Commissioners to request an additional
$39,918 to offset the loss of federal justice department grants Ohio will
receive in 2006. Currently, the county match for this year is $38,666 plus
$50,000 from the state Office of Criminal Justice Services (OCJS).
Orr along with Ashtabula County Sheriff’s Department officials, Lt. Greg
Leonhard and Chief Deputy Howard Shetler told commissioners the additional
funds are urgently needed to help stem the growing drug problems mainly
methamphetamine labs and other related criminal activities. Leonhard said
the extra funds for TAG should be a priority for the commissioners other
than plans to buy the FirstEnergy Plant C when considering the county’s 2006
budgetary needs.
"All the crimes including burglaries or thefts we investigate are related to
the meth drug problems we face in this county. Methamphetamine drug use is
the number one problem in this county," said Leonhard.
Ashtabula County is now ranked second in Ohio with the number of
methamphetamine labs broken up with arrests. Summit County is No. 1 and
Sciota County is No. 3, Orr said.
Asked why the federal Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne/JAG) program is
being phased out in President Bush’s 2006 budget, Orr replied, "Because
President Bush’s drug czar is a knucklehead."
Leonhard echoed Orr’s concerns. The deputy said that in his opinion, the
federal justice system officials are out of touch with drug related crimes
local police and county law enforcement agencies must deal with on an
every-day basis.
Orr said the total TAG budget this year was $466, 392
with OCJS grants amounting to $349,794 of the total. The OCJS grants help
pay for the salaries and benefits of the five deputies on the staff, said
Orr.
Now with the OCJS Byrne/JAG grants being cut back at the federal level, Orr
is requesting all three county boards of commissioner to come up with the
extra matching funds in order to pay for the deputy salaries and one-third
of the administrative office assistant’s wages.
"We are only going to get $149,999 from the OCJS next year. This amount is
based on population in the three counties. There are only 30 task force
groups like ours in the state. Everyone is competing for the same money,"
explained Orr.
Ohio’s drug crime task force commanders like Orr have enlisted help from
their congressional representatives in Ohio and other states to get Byrne
funds back in President Bush’s 2006 and 2007 budgets.
"In 2003 we regionalized with five full-time investigators plus myself.
Trumbull County commissioners in 2002 wrote the small grant to bring in
Ashtabula County," said Orr adding that TAG was established in 2001with two
counties involved initially.
All the TAG officers are certified deputy sheriffs from the three counties,
who work undercover to arrest the top drug dealers, said Orr. The extra
match dollars are needed from all three county boards of commissioners to
offset the loss of the state/federal funds.
Earlier on Tuesday, Orr met Trumbull County Commissioners to discuss the
same funding crisis the TAG agency faces if it is to continue the same level
of operations in 2006. Orr told Ashtabula commissioners that their
counterparts in Geauga County were being briefed on the extra money match
need by Geauga Sheriff Dan McClelland.
Emphasizing the importance of the TAG task force work Ashtabula County,
Shetler said, "Meth is the worst drug I’ve seen in my 30 years in law
enforcement. Meth is the drug of choice in this county (over any others).
Meth is behind all the other crimes occurring in this county."
"Without the ability of the TAG officers working with us I don’t know where
we would be," Shelter added. |
