Officials Lobby for Witness Protection Funds

Arguing that the proposed elimination of state witness protection funds could result in an increase in murders locally, Los Angeles police and prosecutors have mounted a strong effort to save the program as lawmakers weigh cuts in the face of the state budget crisis.

Though the amount of the state’s witness protection fund is relatively small, police and district attorney’s officials say the program is often crucial to the successful prosecution of suspects in hundreds of gang homicides.

The annual $3-million witness protection fund is scheduled to be eliminated in Gov. Gray Davis’ current budget proposal. The effect would be keenly felt in Los Angeles, where 511 witnesses were relocated last year, mostly to keep them safe from gang retaliation, prosecutors say.

Before the program was reestablished five years ago after a hiatus of several years, “numerous witnesses were murdered in Los Angeles County gang cases,” Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley told state legislators in a pointed letter Tuesday.

Representatives from the Police Department and the district attorney’s office said they were making a last-minute pitch for the program in advance of a key Assembly subcommittee meeting today in which legislators will consider whether to restore the program for the next round of budget talks. The efforts won support from the governor last week, but some state officials and Jim Provenza, legislative counsel for the district attorney, said the program’s fate remains doubtful.

That’s because its usual source of money, the state victims’ restitution fund, has dried up, resulting in the program’s elimination. Witness protection has been paid for from a surplus in those funds. But lately, competition for the money has increased because of a jump in murders, and because restrictions on who can receive the funds have been eased, state officials said. A new funding source must be found, officials said.

The Los Angeles Police Department considers restoring the funds a legislative priority.

Police Chief William J. Bratton called the proposed cut “another erosion in the platform we are trying to stand on in fighting crime.”

“We have difficulties enough getting people to come forward and assist in testifying for fear of bodily harm,” Bratton said.

Witness protection stands out among a host of proposed justice-related cuts in the budget, said LAPD Chief of Detectives James McMurray, because it is frequently difficult to arrest suspects in gang killings in other ways.

“I don’t think it takes too much to imagine oneself on a gang-controlled street in Los Angeles and be a witness to a gang killing,” McMurray said. “Your concern is your family, and if you supply testimony, you could draw targets on the back of everyone in the family as well as yourself.”

At the department’s Southeast Division, which has had the highest number of homicides of any sector this year, Det. Sal LaBarbera said detectives have submitted cases for prosecution on most of the 22 killings partly because detectives have persuaded witnesses to testify by promising to move them away from local gangs.

LaBarbera said a recent homicide illustrates the point. Many people witnessed the killing yet no one was willing to testify, not even when the city offered a $25,000 reward, a measure of the depth of fear among people in daily contact with gang members.

Only when detectives promised to move people out of the gang’s territory did some residents show interest in coming forward, he said.

Cutting the program, LaBarbera said, “is going to really hurt us.”