Muscatine

If you have not already read the article in Journal about the federal grant cuts that would effect the money received by our local drug task force, you should take a look. The cuts could mean 70% less funding for the police officers working at the DTF. The possible result could be the task force loosing two investigators. I think it is time to get on the phone to Sen. Tom Harkin and Sen. Charles Grassley, and let them know that at the local level, we really need that funding.

In a previous link ''Officer Killed'' there was a lot of discussion about a police officer killed while executing a narcotics search warrant. Like guns or not, we don't want to put our police officers in any greater danger by understaffing a group that already has an extremely dangerous job and deals with some of the worst of the worst in our society.

I agree 100%

As I recall after reading the Muscatine city budget issues last year, the Police Chief stated that if the federal grants that fund the city officers assigned to the county drug task force were to be eliminated, the two city officers would, due to lack of funds at the city level, need to be eliminated. This in effect he said would as he said ?“takes the city out of the drug enforcement business.?” This is not only scary, but dangerous. I constantly read about the number of people who are arrested due to issues with drugs, and I can not even imagine what would happen to our city should enforcement be curtailed or eliminated. I recall that the Chief said most of the enforcement might revert back to the State, which is laughable considering the way the state operates.
Harkin, Grassley and the rest of the Iowa contingent to the Washington insane asylum must be asleep at the wheel if they do not realize the devastating impact these federal cuts would have on their constituents. Tell me please why we keep re-electing these people? It can?’t possibly be because they are looking out for us, because the apparently are not.