Private Operator Sought for U.S. Drug Program; Union Objects

The Justice Department is seeking a private firm to run a major anti-drug program and to coordinate federal attempts to curb juvenile crime, a move that “defies common sense,” a government union charged Thursday.

Under the proposal, the department would replace 48 government employees in the Bureau of Justice Assistance and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention by signing a contract with a private firm to do their work.

In the past, the Ronald Reagan Administration tried on several occasions to eliminate the Office of Juvenile Justice by not requesting any funds for its operation, but Congress invariably stepped in to rescue the agency.

“This is another good way to destroy it,” said Stu Smith, president of Local 2830 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Smith said 27 of the affected employees are social scientists, and eliminating those positions would wipe out more than 60% of the office’s professional work force.

On Capitol Hill, Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski (D-Pa.), chairman of the House Post Office and Civil Service Committee that oversees the government’s contracting-out program, challenged the proposal in a letter to Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh.

Kanjorski said the employees who would be affected by the change were performing legitimate governmental functions.

Richard B. Abell, assistant attorney general for the Office of Justice Programs, announced last week that the department would accept bids from private firms to do the work now performed by social science program specialists in the two agencies.

The Bureau of Justice Assistance supervises the use of $446 million in funds for anti-drug operations by state and local governments as well as private groups. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention has an annual budget of $72.5 million to finance its coordination of all federal youth program activities.

In protesting the move, AFSCME Local 2830 said the two agencies make sure that government funds are spent according to Congress’ specifications.

“The employees filling many of these positions . . . operate programs to teach law enforcement officers about child abuse, train juvenile court judges, help communities fight drug trafficking and coordinate the fight against crime with other government agencies,” the union said.

“To allow the private sector to take over such operations defies common sense and mocks the congressional intent of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 and the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention statutes. The intended or unintended result would be to destroy the integrity of two major government programs.”