Funding cuts taking toll

David Kihara

Thursday, March 9, 2006 | 7:17 a.m.

Southern Nevada law enforcement and community policing programs are becoming casualties of the war on terrorism and the war in Iraq.

Over the last few years the federal government has significantly cut the amount of grant money going to police, community and court programs designed to nip crime in the bud.

In Southern Nevada, that means programs such as District Court's drug court and late-night services for young gang members are scaling back or scrambling to find money.

"I don't understand how anybody could not understand the importance of this problem," said Billie Bates, executive director of Zero Weapons, Zero Violence, a group that works to keep violence out of schools.

Her group received $30,000 last year and $13,210 this year.

"They did what they thought was best," Bates said. "It doesn't mean it's what I thought was best."

The Justice Department says that other priorities such as the war in Iraq have forced the cuts, which has left a local committee that determines who gets the money with fewer dollars to distribute.

This year various groups requested $2.1 million, but the county only received $729,448. Last year the county received $1.1 million, down from $2.4 million in 1998.

Local governments such as Clark County now have to pay for some of the programs that until recently were paid for largely by the federal government.

The cuts come at a time when the local governments are pressed financially.

One big loser was the Boys and Girls Club of Las Vegas, which asked for $50,000 for a program to help prepare minors in jail to stay out of trouble once they are released. It received $50,000 last year, but didn't get any money this year.

The program may be scaled back if the club can't find any more money, said Angela Quinn, the organization's president.

The Southern Nevada Gang Task Force is also in a tough position. This year it asked for $151,760 to fund Back on Track and Late Night Solutions - two programs aimed at helping young people and gang members stay away from criminal activity.

This year the Southern Nevada Gang Task Force was awarded $30,000. Three years ago, under a similar federal grant, it received $150,000, said Kevin Niday, supervisor of Late Night Solutions.

Because of the funding cuts, Late Night Solutions, which provides activities for at-risk youths during the night when gangs are most active, has had to scale back its programs to June through September instead of year-round.

Evan Peterson, a Justice Department spokesman, said that federal funding for many of these programs has been scaled back because the White House has other concerns.

"(President Bush's) budget focuses on other priorities. We are a nation at war," Peterson said. "We are ensuring that the highest priorities are funded."

Metro and other police agencies still get other federal funding aimed at homeland security and general law enforcement work. But this grant money has been a sizable portion of the money that goes toward community policing programs.

The grants have been dwindling for several years. In 2001, $521 million was available nationwide under the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant, which paid for the Boys and Girls Club of Las Vegas' program.

But by 2004 that amount was cut to $213 million.

This year the amount increased to $292 million, but only because it was combined with another federal law enforcement grant.

But in Clark County, where the population increases faster than public services can keep up, some programs face a difficult future financially.

District Court, for example, received only $130,000 to help run drug court, a program that allows people to get treatment and counseling instead of jail time. The court requested $429,256, which is its operating budget.

Chuck Short, court executive officer, said the drug court program will need county help to keep going.

"When these federal grants dry up, if local governments want to keep up the level of services, they need to use local money," Short said. "There are so many worthy causes and not nearly enough dollars."