Bailout For Cops Will Raise State Debts

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Led by President Obama, Democrats have introduced a $825 billion stimulus package. According to a Summary from the House Committee on Appropriations, the bill includes $4 billion to support state and local law enforcement, including $3 billion for the Byrne Justice Assistance Grants, which fund multi-agency drug task forces across the country, and $1 billion for the COPS hiring grant program, to hire approximately 13,000 new police officers for three years 

Drug War reform advocates like Bill Piper from Drug Policy Alliance point out that this could burden state budgets in the long run."The Democrats are framing this as helping in these tough economic times, but the people who will be arrested will end up in state prison, and the states will have to pay for that," Piper pointed out. "The states may well end up paying more in the long run. It's far from clear that this will stimulate the economy, but what is clear is that it will stimulate the breaking up of families and decreasing productivity and tax revenues, especially in communities already devastated by the impact of over-incarceration."

With America's nearly 2.3 million prisoners kept mostly in state prisons, state representatives are often left figuring out how to pay for the end result of the War on Drugs.  In states suffering from a large budget deficits, from Rhode Island to California, Governors have begun launching exploratory committees with the assignment of changing sentencing guidelines to reduce the state prison population.

Democrats are facing staunch opposition to the bailout from Republican legislators.  On Wednesday morning, Minority Leader John Boehner emphasized that GOP members are worried that billions will go to domestic spending that "has nothing to do with creating jobs or preserving jobs."  With Republicans traditionally in favor of increasing police spending, it remains to be seen if this $4 billion incrase in police funding will be a major point of contention.