Directing a Flood of Anti-Crime Funds

President Clinton is due to sign the crime bill today before an audience that includes big-city mayors and families of crime victims. His signature will trigger the distribution of $2.3 billion already approved by Congress to pay for more local police, state prisons and border control, among other law enforcement improvements. That’s good news--if the money flows as quickly as promised and is wisely spent.

Washington rarely moves this fast on appropriations. But before recessing, Congress approved much of the crime bill’s funding in the appropriations bill for the Commerce, Justice and State departments. How fast the coveted federal funds will be spent will depend on cooperation between the Justice Department and local governments. U.S. Atty. Gen. Janet Reno, to her credit, is already trying to speed up that process.

The largest crime bill appropriation allots $1.3 billion for community policing. The feds will pay 75% of the cost of hiring more police officers while local communities put up 25%. That’s a bargain, but only until the federal funds run out in six years.

To take advantage of the new money, some municipalities may be tempted to compromise screening and rush recruits through training. That would be a mistake, as the current problems of Washington’s police force prove. Shortcuts taken when that force expanded rapidly resulted in some poorly trained officers who were unable to testify properly in court; others have been charged with selling drugs or other crimes.

Another large appropriation provides $230 million to cover state costs for imprisoning illegal immigrants convicted of felonies. The crime bill also includes $284 million to hire nearly 1,000 Border Patrol agents and to accelerate deportation of immigrants who are in the United States illegally. Both are appropriate priorities for federal funding. Control of national borders is a federal responsibility.

Among the appropriations for fiscal 1995 are $450 million to help law enforcement agencies fund investigative task forces and drug abuse education; $100 million to allow the FBI to computerize the national background checks required by the Brady gun control law and to upgrade state criminal records; $29 million to establish state drug courts; $26 million to toughen state prosecutions of domestic violence and sexual assault cases, and $256 million to fund state boot camps for young offenders.

So far, only a scant $1.5 million has been allocated for prevention programs. Much more is promised, and needed.

Overseeing this mammoth crime bill will be a huge challenge. Thanks to Reno’s fast action, the first dollars should flow in October. Not soon enough for a crime-weary public.