Money Going to Law and Order
J. Andrew Curliss, Staff Writer
The News & Observer (NC)
January 2, 2007
Gov. Mike Easley, a former county prosecutor and state attorney general,
says he hasn't done enough in the past six years for his old colleagues
in state and local justice agencies.
He's trying to make up for it.
Last year, Easley pushed for the legislature to provide money for 90 new assistant district attorneys across the state, and it did. Hiring for those jobs can begin this week; the money wasn't available until after Jan. 1.
Easley also pushed and won approval for the state to hire a dozen more SBI agents and buy new courtroom equipment, telephone systems and electronic filing software. In all, it amounts to $27 million in new spending.
But Easley, a Democrat in his second term, said in a recent interview that it's just a start.
"We need more, and we'll probably have another package," he said.
The governor is not detailing what new justice spending he will support as the budget for the next two years is put together.
He's expected to outline his plans in February or March, and his budget requests will be a big part of what legislators debate in 2007.
Peg Dorer, director of the N.C. Conference of District Attorneys, said that until last year, prosecutors hadn't seen "any significant funding increase in 10 years."
"Not anything," she said, even as the number of felony cases filed increased by more than 30 percent. The number of pending cases jumped by more than 70 percent since 1995, a backlog that she said is unacceptable.
"It was becoming a crisis situation," Dorer said.
This year, she said, state prosecutors are seeking 60 more assistant district attorneys and 125 support staff positions. Price tag: more than $12 million.
Attorney General Roy Cooper, also a Democrat, said he, too, is glad to hear the governor is focused more on crime.
"A lot of the everyday crime fighting has been falling back on the local departments," Cooper said in an interview. "But when you ask taxpayers how they want their money invested, public safety ranks highly."
Cooper said he is seeking an additional $5 million in spending, on top of a $90 million budget financed by the legislature. The money, he said, would improve technologies used to combat criminals, including:
* Four new people for handling and matching DNA samples to help solve crimes.
* Leasing space for a new state crime lab in the Triad, staffed with 12 new positions.
* Four new computer crime agents, specializing in child and sex cases.
Cooper also wants to hire eight new SBI field agents to work on drug and firearms cases.
"The overriding issue is that we think technology can keep us a step ahead of the criminals," Cooper said.
Easley said he agrees the state needs to spend more on crime fighting. He acknowledged that his background in justice hadn't carried over into his spending as governor.
When he took office, Easley said, "people thought that we'd finally have a governor who'd put a high priority on that."
Instead, Easley has put his major efforts into education and luring jobs to the state as the number of manufacturing and textile plants dwindled.
Money that might have gone to courtrooms and crime efforts was swept up in new priorities brought on by the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001 -- his first year in office.
"It took those resources in a different direction," he said.
The state is spending, for example, to build up a communications system that would allow various agencies to talk with each other in emergencies.
Easley said the shift toward helping the justice system more hasn't been lost on his former colleagues.
"They're all feeling better about things now," he said, "even started to invite me back to their meetings."
Staff writer J. Andrew Curliss can be reached at 829-4840 or acurliss@newsobserver.com.
© Copyright 2007, The News & Observer Publishing Company