Local drug busters could be shorted $120,000 in funds and the regional law enforcement agency could be jeopardized if a proposed federal budget holds up this year, San Benito County Sheriff Curtis Hill confirmed today.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger joined statewide drug enforcement agencies in asking Congress to restore more than $300 million to Justice Assistance Grant funds slashed from this year's proposed federal budget.
Bob Cooke, special agent in charge of the California Department of Justice Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement in San Jose, said the Unified Narcotics Enforcement Team would be in jeopardy without the funds.
The team is comprised of agents from local law enforcement departments and works to catch drug dealers in San Benito County.
UNET and 50 other state agencies like it are on the frontline of defense against methamphetamine importation from Mexico, Cooke said.
"In California, we are not only the pipeline but the leader in meth," Hill said.
Hill, whose office provides some of the funds for UNET and several deputy agents, said 76 percent of methamphetamine found throughout the country comes out of California.
State drug agencies were effective in pushing methamphetamine production south of the U.S.-Mexico border at the beginning of the decade.
But as Mexico ramps up its own combative efforts, Cooke and others are worried methamphetamine production could creep north again.
Cooke said presence of the Mexican cartels in control of the drug trade increases violent crimes.
"These guys are dangerous and they're violent," Cooke said. "They're changing the way they do business."
Methamphetamine users can also be violent, and Cooke, who has worked in law enforcement since the 1970s, said he has never seen a more destructive drug.
And here in San Benito County, drugs and gangs go hand in hand, Hill said.
Losing funds for combating drugs would also mean, to a certain extent, that gangs would go unabated, Hill said.
"I can't have that," Hill said. "I just cannot have that."
Hill added that methamphetamine use is also often linked to burglaries and identity theft crime.
Specially trained UNET agents are also called into action on a host of other crimes, Cooke said.
"They really depend on UNET in that county because they don't have a SWAT team," Cooke said.
Representatives from drug agencies in California will travel to Washington D.C. in late February to speak with Congress members in hopes of restoring the funds, Cooke said.
On Tuesday, Schwarzenegger wrote Congress, urging members to restore the funds.
In 2007, California received $33 million from federal grants to combat drugs. It is projected that the state will receive around $11 million if this year's budget holds, according to the governor's office.
Hill said the funding has decreased every year since 2001.
Michael Van Cassell Michael Van Cassell covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 335.
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