Most people have a junk drawer in the home. I don’t have enough drawers to save one just for junk. However, I do have junk files. I’ll save a tidbit of news, or a fact sheet, or some other insignificant piece of paper until I decide to clean out the file.
I was going to clean out the junk file today and found a piece of junk that turned out to be a real treasure. Why did I save an Iowa Legislative Fiscal Topic on “Undercover Funds”? I know I had a reason for putting it in the junk file.
A closer examination showed that the practice of supplying undercover agents in Iowa with money to purchase drugs started a year before I began lobbying. “The annual General Fund appropriation for undercover funds began in FY 1991 at $275,000.” That’s a lot of money “to purchase small amounts of narcotics in an effort to build intent to deliver cases.” The Fiscal Topic was printed in September, 2011 (which is why this paper was probably on top of the pile). It has a brief history and the purpose for the money. I assumed it was used to set up drug dealers by making a controlled buy. I couldn’t believe what I discovered. It’s also used “to pay confidential informants for information relative to an ongoing investigation.” Snitches!
There’s been a lot written about snitches. In Mexico, the drug cartels find the snitches and hang them up in public after they’ve been disemboweled. The cartels post signs to warn others. Okay, so that’s Mexico. But we’re civil here in America, right? Sure, but just barely.
Think like a criminal for a moment. So, you get caught with some drugs; not much, but you can’t find yourself going through the criminal justice system so you make a deal. The cops give you $500 to snitch on who sold you the drugs. Heck, you don’t want someone coming down on you, so you tell them it was someone else – someone who is not involved in the drug trade – an innocent person. In some cases, this begins a chain reaction.
Police dressed in paramilitary garb rush into a private home with weapons pointed yelling: “On the floor. ON THE F…ING FLOOR!” And they find out that the person whose home was raided doesn’t even know what a marijuana plant looks like. http://www.amazon.com/Overkill-Paramilitary-Police-Raids-America/dp/B0034ANHS0 It happens more than you think.
What about the guy who got paid $500? You can’t prosecute him. You just paid him off and didn’t charge him with a crime. What’s he going to do if the cops go back to him? Tell the judge that the cops paid him $500 and didn’t prosecute? And if the snitch has one ounce of street smarts (and most do) he’s not going to have any drugs on him – this time. What charge is going to stick?
Most of the money for these undercover funds comes from a federal Byrne-Justice Assistance Grant (JAG), 75% in the past 4 years. The state has put up an additional 25%. But the funds have been dwindling over the last decade. This year, there are no Byrne JAG funds expected. It’s going to be interesting to see if the state continues its contribution into this black hole.
One thing missing from the analysis is related to a heavy drop in the funds available for FY 2009. Compiling the Byrne-JAG money and the state money, FY 2008, 2010, and 2011 each had a total available of over $200,000. However, in FY 2009, the total amount was just shy of $88,000. Don’t you want to know if drug arrests went down that year? I do.