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Drug Task Force Fears Funding Cuts: Loss of Federal Money Would Create Budget Hole

Posted on: Friday, 17 March 2006, 03:04 CST

By Scott Williams, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Mar. 17--Waukesha -- For the second straight year, Waukesha County's special drug-fighting task force is warning that its operations could be jeopardized funding cuts.

A year ago, the county stepped forward with funds to replace dwindling federal resources for the Metro Drug Enforcement Group, a 20-year-old law enforcement cooperative alliance.

Now, officials are warning that the situation could get much worse.

Sheriff Daniel Trawicki said the federal government might be preparing to eliminate its funding entirely, which would create a $140,000-a-year hole in the drug task force's budget for 2007.

"It's a potential huge problem," Trawicki said.

Representatives of the sheriff's department are scheduled to outline the situation today for members of the County Board's Judiciary and Law Enforcement Committee.

Supervisor William Mitchell of Waukesha, chairman of the committee, said he would support county funding to sustain the drug task force if federal funding were eliminated.

Although the cost would be significant, Mitchell said, a successful fight against drugs would save the county money in the long run putting a dent in the drug trade locally.

"The more we can do to help prevent that, I think we're going to be ahead of the game," he said. "I think it's money well spent."

Formed in the mid-1980s, the Metro Drug Enforcement Group combines the Sheriff's Department's resources with those of the cities of Waukesha, Brookfield and New Berlin and the Village of Menomonee Falls.

It is among an estimated 30 such task forces statewide that receive a combined $2 million a year in federal funding under a program started during the Reagan administration.

Funding has dwindled over the years, however, and officials believe the program is in jeopardy of being eliminated in the 2007 federal budget.

"I'm very concerned," said Capt. Eric Severson, who leads the Waukesha County task force. "I'm hearing nothing optimistic."

Severson said the loss of $140,000 a year would leave the unit with virtually no operating funds other than investigators' salaries, which are paid their home departments. Among other things, investigators use the federal funds to make undercover purchases from suspected drug traffickers.

"That's the stuff that we need to work day to day," Severson said of the operating funds.

As recently as two years ago, the task force was getting more than $200,000 a year from the federal government.

When funding declined last year, the county allocated more than $50,000 to pay the salary of a drug case prosecutor in the Waukesha County district attorney's office -- a position that had previously been funded the same federal grant.

Officials said they might not know the grant's status for 2007 until this fall, about the same time the county's 2007 budget must be finalized.

Muskego Police Chief John Johnson said the county should provide whatever funding is needed to keep the task force operating.

Although Muskego recently pulled out of the task force to focus on local police issues, Johnson said, the countywide alliance remains an important weapon against drugs, and Muskego hopes to return later.

"Drug dealers don't respect borders," he said. "It's clearly a regional issue."

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Copyright (c) 2006, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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