One of the few amendments on the House floor that passed yesterday ended the state’s regional narcotics task forces, a fact that pleased the ACLU and disappointed one police union.

The end of regional narcotics task forces was not intended to save money; instead, the measure is expected to protect a potential $32 million federal grant that is expected to flow to Texas this year. After the Tulia scandal, Texas Senators. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn warned the state it needed to clean up the regional narcotics task force program or face the loss of the future Byrne Grant funds.

Rep. Terry Keel’s (R-Austin) amendment does not end the funding of crime enforcement initiatives. Individual agencies, and agencies who have signed cooperative agreements, can still apply for Byrne grant funds. But Keel’s amendment specifically does cut off funding to regional narcotics task forces.

Chris Jones of the Combined Law Enforcement Association of Texas admits the events in Tulia were a problem, but he’s not certain every regional task force should be punished for the crime of one. Tulia has ended up overshadowing the work of other successful initiatives.

"I think most task forces have worked together in a unified manner that has benefited the state and its citizens. It’s taken a lot of drugs off the street and put a lot of drug dealers in jail," Jones said. "I hate to see a knee-jerk reaction to an incident like Tulia be taken as ammunition against all task forces."

Will Harrell of the Texas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union told Houston Chronicle columnist Thom Marshall yesterday that ex-narcotics officer Tom Coleman, who made the Tulia busts, "has done more to foster police accountability in this state than anyone in recent history."

This puts the ACLU and former Travis County Sheriff Keel in the same corner. Keel’s staff says that’s not so unusual. On some issues Keel has opposed the ACLU; on other issues, the ACLU and Keel find themselves on the same side, even for the same reasons. Keel is one who supports both effective law enforcement and the protection of constitutional and civil rights. Communities need to be tough on crime, but they need to be doing it in a legal way.

Regional narcotics task forces have done good work in rural and border counties, Jones said. Smaller counties in the state rarely have the resources of their urban neighbors to combat crime. The regional approach allowed law enforcement agencies to secure funds and share information. But sometime the good that those task forces could do has been marred by politics, Jones said.

"I believe if there is some questions to the ethics of the task force, it does need to be addressed," Jones said. "I wouldn’t have any problem with state oversight, if that was a condition of the grant funds."

And oversight is exactly what Keel wants. Under his amendment, the funding will flow directly to the agency, rather than a stand-alone task force. Employees of an individual sheriff’s department are accountable to the sheriff, and that’s the way it should be, says Keel. The concept of a regional approach to crime-fighting is not wrong; it was the structure of the stand-alone task forces that were wrong. Keel expects that grant funds flowing directly to the agency will increase accountability.

by Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com

Editor: Harvey Kronberg
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