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Crime: Fighting for Safer Streets and Schools

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Over the past eight years, the Republican Administration – enabled by Elizabeth Dole – has worked to reduce and eliminate federal crime-fighting programs that have benefitted North Carolina’s law enforcement and communities. At the same time, police forces nationwide are tasked not only with fighting crime, but also with preventing threats of terrorism and the burden of illegal immigration – a federal issue that has been woefully unaddressed by the Republican federal government. North Carolina has felt the consequences of increased demands on law enforcement and decreased federal support. The result of these failed policies is that crime rates have once again begun to rise.

Kay’s plan involves a comprehensive approach. She will create a strategic plan for fighting crime, disseminate the best ideas, fund the most effective programs and ensure law enforcement has the tools it needs. She will creatively fund the critical ideas in this plan without imposing undue burdens on the American public. Each year there are approximately $350 billion in taxes which are not paid voluntarily and timely. Kay will seek to close this “tax gap” by increasing enforcement before we look to new revenue sources.

PROTECTING AMERICA

Kay believes that we have many of the tools we need to address the threat of rising crime and gang violence, including programs to help communities put more police officers on the street, provide healthy and safe activities to encourage kids in high-risk gang environments to avoid gangs and stay off the streets, help states deal with the backlog in criminal prosecutions and in DNA testing, and help teach released convicts how to avoid recidivism. Republicans have consistently attempted to de-authorize funding for these vital programs. Kay will fight hard to uphold the promises the federal government has made to state and local governments by fully funding these vital programs and by updating the law to give them the tools they need to keep us safe.

FIGHTING GANGS

In 2008, Kay supported $10 million for the North Carolina Street Gang Suppression Act, which toughened punishments for gang involvement and violence. North Carolinians are well aware of our state’s – and indeed, our country’s – significant gang problem. Our state completed a comprehensive statewide study of gang activity in 2007, another idea supported by Kay. The results were alarming. North Carolina is estimated to have over 14,000 gang members in over 500 gangs – many with connections to larger national and international criminal organizations. The study estimated that by 2012, there would be between 30,000 to 40,000 gang members in North Carolina. We need to address this issue now. [Vote 1076, 7/30/07; 2007 Fiscal Research Division Budget Overview; Vote 1584, 7/8/08; Raleigh News & Observer, 5/22/08; Vote 1286, 5/21/08]

In the U.S. Senate, Kay will work hard to continue to develop a comprehensive policy to address gangs that incorporates prevention, intervention and suppression. [CRS Youth Gangs report, RL33400, January 2008]

• Discourage Gang Membership. Kay will expand the Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT) program to all high-risk area middle schools and high schools. This effective program puts a law enforcement officer in the classroom to teach children about the dangers of gangs and how to avoid them. Kay will also develop, support, and expand innovative programs like the Gang Reduction Program (GRP), which “is designed to reduce gang activity in targeted neighborhoods by incorporating a broad spectrum of research-based interventions to address the range of personal, family, and community factors that contribute to juvenile delinquency and gang activity.” These programs create a strategic approach to gang violence by utilizing all aspects of gang prevention, intervention, and suppression and by involving multiple agencies in the process. [GREAT website, 8/18/08; Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Program GRP website, 8/18/08]

• Promote After-School Alternatives. Kay will increase support for mentoring and after-school programs like the 21st Century Community Learning programs, because keeping kids off the streets keeps kids out of gangs. Mentoring programs and after-school programs provide children with a chance to increase their confidence, form bonds with the community, and develop their education. Kay also believes that we need to make a concerted effort to ensure that children and teenagers have at least one caring adult in their lives, such as a parent, teacher or mentor, since these relationships are one of the most successful ways to discourage gang membership. Kay believes we can develop and promote useful partnerships with local universities, Boys and Girls clubs, scouting organizations, and faith-based groups to give kids the tools they need to avoid gangs. [Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Program, Mentoring overview, 8/18/08; U.S. Department of Education, 21st Century Community Learning Centers, 8/18/08]

• Get Tough On Gangs And Support The Judicial System. Kay supports increased penalties that punish gang violence. Kay knows the judicial system is stretched thin, especially in our urban areas, and she will work to ensure that the law allows for prosecutors and judges to have the ability to increase penalties for gang-connected crimes. [Charlotte Magazine, 9/1/07]

• Expand Information Sharing. Kay will increase the amount of information available to law enforcement by creating and expanding gang databases throughout the country. North Carolina GangNet is an “Internet based law enforcement intelligence sharing database that contains information about known gang members.” However, the software is currently being used by less than half of the state law enforcement agencies. On the national level, law enforcement agencies may participate in the Regional Information Sharing System National Gang Database (RISS), but this infrastructure suffers from a lack of participation by local agencies, the absence of uniform reporting standards and impediments imposed by regulations on the sharing of data about minors. Kay will work to increase our gang data collection and sharing capabilities by supporting uniform reporting standards, increase funding for database development and lower barriers to data sharing in the fight against gangs. [Comprehensive Assessment of Gangs in North Carolina, Report to the General Assembly, March 2008]

FIGHTING FOR POLICE ON THE GROUND

Kay believes our nation’s finest need more support, not less. Studies have shown that the hiring of more cops, deployed with sophistication to key crime neighborhoods, results in a reduction of crime. Law enforcement officers across the country are dealing with a rising crime rate, an inundation of illegal immigrants and new counter-terrorism responsibilities. That is why she will fight to fully fund Byrne Grants and the COPS program. [Florida State University study, 6/24/05; Brookings Institute, March 2007]

• The Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Program: This program provides grants to state and local police forces and often supports multi-jurisdictional drug task forces. In 2004 alone it helped police forces remove from America’s streets:
o 2.7 million grams of amphetamines/methamphetamine;
o 1.8 million grams of powder cocaine;
o 278,200 grams of crack;
o 73,300 grams of heroin;
o 75 million cultivated and non-cultivated marijuana plants; and
o 27 million kilograms of marijuana. [IACP, 110th Legislative Agenda]

• The Community Oriented Policing Service (COPS) Program: This program has assisted police forces across the country in hiring more than 100,000 officers (including over 6,000 school resource officers) and has provided thousands of grants to help local law enforcement agencies purchase needed communication and crime-fighting technologies. A wide range of experts have credited the COPS program as a major factor in the drop of crime rates in the 1990s and have postulated that the program receives a return ranging from three to six times larger than the initial investment. Despite this strong societal benefit, congressional Republicans successfully de-authorized funding for hiring new officers under COPS during the most recent renewal of the overall program. [Brookings Institution Policy Brief #158]

Republicans have inexplicably tried to cut or eliminate Byrne Grants and the COPS program – in 2007, the Byrne Grants were slashed by 67%. Elimination of these programs would cost North Carolina’s law enforcement departments more than $20 million compared to FY07 funding. Rather than cut back on these important programs right as violent crime rates rise, Kay will work to bolster these important programs. Specifically, she will support re-authorization of funding for the COPS hiring program and will seek to supplement the programs with funding for technology grants for local law enforcement agencies, which will allow officials to analyze real-time crime data to anticipate crime trends and to examine DNA evidence. [National Criminal Justice Association, viewed 8/18/08]

KEEPING OUR CHILDREN SAFE

Increasingly, our children face the threat of crime and abuse at school and online. Kay will work to provide our schools, our parents and our local law enforcement agencies the tools they need to keep our children safe. Kay believes we can create a safer environment for children across the country.

• Support Schools. Kay will increase funding for mentoring programs, after school initiatives, the Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT) program and the COPS program, which includes funds for school resource officers. Furthermore, Kay supports increasing funding for schools in high-risk areas for security measures such as cameras and hot-lines.

• Stop Abuse In Schools. Kay has supported anti-bullying measures in the state Senate. At least 38 states have adopted anti-bullying laws. Kay would encourage more schools to report the frequency of bullying in their needs assessments, and encourage more states to adopt policies to combat bullying in their codes of conduct. [Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, 6/7/08]

• Fight Adult Solicitation And Impersonation Of Children On The Internet. There have been repeated news accounts of adults soliciting kids on social networking sites by portraying themselves as other children. Current laws against stalking are generally geographically-dependent, and laws against impersonating others pertain to impersonation of specific individuals. It should be a federal crime for an adult to impersonate online a minor for purposes of solicitation or harassment. In the state Senate, Kay supported legislation to require sex offenders to register all online aliases, and to bar sex offenders from accessing social networking sites. In Washington, Kay will support similar legislation to require sex offenders to register all Internet aliases with a federal database that would be accessible to social networking sites. [Vote 1666, 7/14/08; Vote 484, 5/23/07]

• Increase Supervision Of Sex Offenders. There is an important distinction between registration and supervision, and many jurisdictions lack sufficient resources to effectively keep tabs on convicted sex offenders in the community. Federal funding could enable local law enforcement to do in-person verification of sex offenders’ registered addresses and to implement GPS monitoring of the most dangerous sex offenders.

SUPPORTING WOMEN IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CRIME

• Fully Funding The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). This act supports numerous programs that work to train law enforcement officers and attorneys on how to address domestic violence. It also helps to inform the community about how to avoid domestic violence and how to get out of abusive relationships with government support. In addition, VAWA works to improve services to victims of sexual assault and to children affected by domestic violence and provides aid to victims of international trafficking.

• Reduce The Backlog Of DNA Testing. Kay will work to reauthorize and fully fund legislation which provides funding to states so that they can work through the backlog of DNA testing in hundreds of thousands cases of rape and other violent crimes. Kay fought for funding to address this issue in the state Senate and she will continue her fight for justice for victims in the U.S. Senate.

• Take DNA Samples From Convicted Felons. Kay will provide federal funds to help state and local law enforcement expand the analysis of DNA, and authorize the taking of DNA samples from all convicted felons prior to their release from prison. The FY 2009 Bush-Republican budget drastically cut funding for DNA analysis.

FIGHTING THE SCOURGE OF DRUGS

Reduce Violent Crime While Lessening Drug Use. Police departments in North Carolina have especially benefited from federal programs that facilitate the hiring of more officers. For example, with more resources devoted to hiring cops, the High Point Police Department implemented an Overt Drug Market Strategy that reduced violent crime in one of its biggest drug neighborhoods and put former drug dealers to work for the city or in the community. High Point’s model has been followed by several police departments from North Carolina and other states, and was honored with a national grant award from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government to implement its strategy throughout the city. This strategy involves:

• Collecting extensive crime data in troublesome neighborhoods;
• Identifying drug dealers and criminal offenders associated with the drug trade;
• Contacting the family members of offenders and community leaders to encourage the offenders to stop committing crime;
• Conducting a meeting between police officers, community leaders, and the offender, where the offenders are given the chance to give up their criminal activity in exchange for no criminal prosecution and the opportunity for legitimate employment; and
• Following up with offenders to prevent recidivism.

Kay believes that the federal government should work to provide resources to police departments so that they can implement strategies similar to High Point’s and that the ability for agencies to share these strategies will cripple the drug trade. [Gov. Easley press release, 4/3/07; Bureau of Justice Assistance, Drug Market Intervention Initiative]

Reduce The Disparity And Racial Bias In Cocaine Sentencing. In December, the Supreme Court issued a ruling to further lessen the sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine. However, there still remains a disparity, with crack cocaine being punished much more severely than powder cocaine charges. Kay will push to eliminate this disparity, which is currently biased against African Americans, who are much more likely to be convicted of crack cocaine charges. [Charlotte Observer, 12/11/07]

Cracking Down On Methamphetamine. Drug trafficking and abuse is not limited to North Carolina’s urban centers. Hailing from a state with a significant rural population, Kay understands the problems faced by rural America in the latest drug epidemic. She will continue the fight against drugs in Congress that she has waged in the state Senate. [Vote 1341, 7/15/04; Winston-Salem Journal, 9/1/05; Vote 1048, 8/24/05]

• Kay will fight methamphetamine production and distribution. She will work to make grants to states for the development of electronic registries for the sale of legal precursors of methamphetamines, with the capability of real-time transmission of information to regulators and law enforcement and sharing information across jurisdictions.

• Kay will increase penalties for producers of drugs. Kay has supported legislation in North Carolina to increase penalties against producers and sellers of methamphetamines and she will fight to increase penalties on a federal level as well.

PUNISHMENT AND REHABILITATION

Increase Capacity.

• Require A 40-Hour Work Week For Prisoners. To reduce the revolving door back into prison, all prisoners should be required to meet a 40 hour ‘work week’ requirement. Instituting this work week would permit prisoners to develop job skills and other skills proven to reduce recidivism, through education, job training, anger management classes, and drug and alcohol treatment. A Washington State study found that vocational education provided a net benefit of $5,624 per prisoner to local taxpayers. [Third Way Crime Report, February 2008]

• End The Revolving Door Of Prison. Two-thirds of prisoners return to prison within three years of their release. Congress should fully fund the bipartisan Second Chance Act to improve access to programs that help released prisoners find jobs and access to job training, drug and alcohol counseling, and mental health services. These transition assistance programs are proven to reduce recidivism. [Center for Law and Social Policy, Second Chance Act overview; Department of Justice Criminal Offender Statistics, viewed 8/18/08]

DEVELOPING CRIME FIGHTING STRATEGY AND TOOLS

A NATIONAL COMMISSION ON LAW ENFORCEMENT AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE

Kay echoes the International Association of Chiefs of Police’s call, originally made in 2000, for a National Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice. We need to have a broad discussion that examines and involves all aspects of the criminal justice system. The context of crime and crime-fighting has changed and the demands we put on our police forces have changed as well. It is time that the best and brightest come together to address the challenges of law enforcement and justice in the 21st Century so that we can secure our homeland and our hometowns as well. [IACP, 4/7/00]