FEDERAL BUDGET CUTS AFFECT LOCAL TASK FORCE AND BARNES COUNTY

Barnes County will feel the effect of federal budget cuts come
January when one officer on the Stutsman-Barnes Narcotics Task Force
will be eliminated.

This is the certain outcome of the latest legislative session in
which federal funds were redirected from the Edward Byrne Memorial
Justice Assistance Grant program. Funding from this program enabled
task forces in all states to maintain officers specific to drug enforcement.

"That person's job is focused on drug enforcement," said Valley City
Police Chief Dean Ross. "He could follow through without other things
getting in the way, such as traffic stops, deaths, assaults, and
accident reports. It keeps the drug agent doing what he does best."
"It is frustrating that we can get funds to buy equipment, but
nothing is available to maintain officers ..." VC Police Chief Dean
Ross Ross indicated the supporting funds for the program have been
declining over the past years. "It started at a 72 / 28 match, then
65 / 35. Now it's a zero match."

"So far this year, no funding has been approved," said Ross. "If it
were reinstated the way it is, all the funds would go to areas with
higher crime."

Barnes County will be directly affected by the position cut. "Most of
our major trouble in the last couple of years has all been domestic
and drug related," he said. "It is frustrating that we can get funds
to buy equipment, but nothing is available to maintain officers."
According to Ross, methamphetamine use is a real problem in Barnes
County but it does not stay in the county alone. "This is a mobile
society," he adds. "They (meth users) are very mobile. Our problem is
Stutsman County's problem and even Fargo's."

Ross suggests if the funding is not reinstated, the city and county
should go together and actually hire a drug agent for Barnes County.
"Hopefully Stutsman and Jamestown could do the same and then the two
of them could work together."

The drug problem will not go away alone, and the task force is making
a difference in the community, Ross said. "The grant was the critical
part of all the task forces in the state," he added. "There's no
doubt that this will affect everyone."