Use Federal Law Enforcement Grants to Combat Drug-Related Violent Crime Along the Texas-Mexico Border
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Dotty Griffith, Public Education Director, ACLU Foundation of Texas, (512) 478-7300 x 106 or 923-1909; [email protected]
MCALLEN – Using state law enforcement funds to pay for ineffective police practices aimed at local residents doesn’t fight violent crime and “makes us poorer not safer,” Terri Burke, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas reported to state lawmakers here Thursday.
Download Terri Burke's testimony (PDF)
See supporting charts (PDF)
She presented testimony to a joint hearing of committees on Border and Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Safety presided over by Rep. Veronica Gonzales. The purpose of the hearing was to gather information about the effectiveness of state operations at controlling drug-related crimes and other violence along the Texas-Mexico border.
Citing the 2009 ACLU of Texas investigation of Operation Border Star, a funding program for local law enforcement agencies, Burke noted that county sheriffs are doing their job enforcing traffic, local and state laws as well as providing security for county courts and jails.
“So far, state funds have been used to buy low-yield but high-priced technology and to pay for ineffective policing that relies on racial profiling or intrusive road stops that do little to stop violence along the border. More often, inconvenience or harassment of law abiding individuals is the main result, not the apprehension of violent criminals,” Burke testified.
Federal law enforcement funding should be used to bolster state law enforcement expertise to investigate and arrest persons involved in organized crime relating to drugs and human trafficking, she added, in her written report.
Burke pointed out the contradiction between top state leaders’ statements that crime along the border is down 60 percent while those same leaders continue to argue for additional state money for border security to augment inadequate federal funding. “All federal funding sources should be used before spending one dime of Texas general revenue on border security operations,” Burke contended.
“The State of Texas is facing a $11 billion shortfall for the next biennium. We cannot afford to spend another $112 million (the cost of Operation Border Star) on inefficient programs that make us poorer not safer,” according to Burke’s written testimony.
