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DOJ Official Skewered At Crime Forum
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| Parent(s) |
Issue
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| Contributor | RP |
| Last Edited | RP Aug 30, 2006 07:20pm |
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| Category | Event |
| Media | TV News - Columbia Broadcasting System CBS News |
| News Date | Thursday, August 31, 2006 01:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty spoke Wednesday at the Police Executive Research Forum, where he was barraged with a series of highly critical questions from some very unhappy police chiefs and mayors.
McNulty clearly knew coming in that he was going to be grilled. But the criticism was much stronger than he seemed to have anticipated, and he did not seem to be very well-briefed on some issues of prime importance to the attendees.
Before McNulty began speaking at the forum, where no cameras were allowed, there was a summary of statistics. The numbers clearly reflected an increase in crime nearly everywhere across the country. The spikes were notable and alarming, and PERF head Chuck Wexler said they reflected that the rise in crime "Is not about one city; it's about the country."
The first question went right to the heart of the Bush administration's policy on guns — and the fact that Congress "is making it harder for the police and ATF to track" them.
The room burst into loud applause when Kilpatrick pointed out that there is $386 billion going to the fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, but that local law enforcement needed a substantial amount of that money, plus a national plan.
He also indicated that the feds "came up with a remarkable solution 10 years ago — to send money to locals to take care of crime — but now they've given up on that," referring to the COPS program, launched during the Clinton administration. COPS aimed to send money to states and local entities to hire, train and equip police officers. The goal was to get 100,000 police on the street.
McNulty seemed taken aback, but said he understood very well how significant that funding had been.
"You say there's less police on the streets than before 9/11. That's an important thing to know," McNulty noted. |
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