{"id":846,"date":"2011-11-01T09:23:38","date_gmt":"2011-11-01T14:23:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/?p=846"},"modified":"2011-11-01T09:23:38","modified_gmt":"2011-11-01T14:23:38","slug":"my-junk-file","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/?p=846","title":{"rendered":"My Junk File"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Most people have a junk drawer in the home.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have enough drawers to save one just for junk.\u00a0 However, I do have junk files.\u00a0 I\u2019ll save a tidbit of news, or a fact sheet, or some other insignificant piece of paper until I decide to clean out the file.<\/p>\n

I was going to clean out the junk file today and found a piece of junk that turned out to be a real treasure.\u00a0 Why did I save an Iowa Legislative Fiscal Topic on \u201cUndercover Funds\u201d?\u00a0 I know I had a reason for putting it in the junk file.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 \u201cThe annual General Fund appropriation for undercover funds began in FY 1991 at $275,000.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s a lot of money \u201cto purchase small amounts of narcotics in an effort to build intent to deliver cases.\u201d\u00a0 The Fiscal Topic was printed in September, 2011 (which is why this paper was probably on top of the pile).\u00a0 It has a brief history and the purpose for the money.\u00a0 I assumed it was used to set up drug dealers by making a controlled buy.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t believe what I discovered.\u00a0 It\u2019s also used \u201cto pay confidential informants for information relative to an ongoing investigation.\u201d\u00a0 Snitches!<\/p>\n

There\u2019s been a lot written about snitches.\u00a0 In Mexico, the drug cartels find the snitches and hang them up in public after they\u2019ve been disemboweled<\/a>.\u00a0 The cartels post signs to warn others.\u00a0 Okay, so that\u2019s Mexico.\u00a0 But we\u2019re civil here in America, right?\u00a0 Sure, but just barely.<\/p>\n

Think like a criminal for a moment.\u00a0 So, you get caught with some drugs; not much, but you can\u2019t find yourself going through the criminal justice system so you make a deal.\u00a0 The cops give you $500 to snitch on who sold you the drugs.\u00a0 Heck, you don\u2019t want someone coming down on you, so you tell them it was someone else \u2013 someone who is not involved in the drug trade \u2013 an innocent person.\u00a0 In some cases, this begins a chain reaction.<\/p>\n

Police dressed in paramilitary garb rush into a private home with weapons pointed yelling:\u00a0 \u201cOn the floor.\u00a0 ON THE F\u2026ING FLOOR!\u201d\u00a0 And they find out that the person whose home was raided doesn\u2019t even know what a marijuana plant looks like.\u00a0 http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Overkill-Paramilitary-Police-Raids-America\/dp\/B0034ANHS0<\/a> \u00a0It happens more than you think.<\/p>\n

What about the guy who got paid $500?\u00a0 You can\u2019t prosecute him.\u00a0 You just paid him off and didn\u2019t charge him with a crime.\u00a0 What\u2019s he going to do if the cops go back to him?\u00a0 Tell the judge that the cops paid him $500 and didn\u2019t prosecute?\u00a0 And if the snitch has one ounce of street smarts (and most do) he\u2019s not going to have any drugs on him \u2013 this time.\u00a0 What charge is going to stick?<\/p>\n

Most of the money for these undercover funds comes from a federal Byrne-Justice Assistance Grant (JAG), 75% in the past 4 years.\u00a0 The state has put up an additional 25%.\u00a0 But the funds have been dwindling over the last decade.\u00a0 This year, there are no Byrne JAG funds expected.\u00a0 It\u2019s going to be interesting to see if the state continues its contribution into this black hole.<\/p>\n

One thing missing from the analysis is related to a heavy drop in the funds available for FY 2009.\u00a0 Compiling the Byrne-JAG money and the state money, FY 2008, 2010, and 2011 each had a total available of over $200,000.\u00a0 However, in FY 2009, the total amount was just shy of $88,000.\u00a0 Don\u2019t you want to know if drug arrests went down that year?\u00a0 I do.<\/p>\n

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Police dressed in paramilitary garb rush into a private home with weapons pointed yelling: \u201cOn the floor. ON THE F\u2026ING FLOOR!\u201d Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-criminal-justice","category-issues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=846"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":848,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846\/revisions\/848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}