Use anti-terrorism cash to fight crime

The Olympian • Published October 10, 2008

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The federal government should redirect some of the anti-terrorism money it sends cities and counties to fight violent crime.

The International Association of Chiefs of Police and the U.S. Conference of Mayors have gone on record, challenging the federal government's spending priorities. Their point is well taken.

Consider this. Since 2003, the Homeland Security Department has doled out $22.7 billion to cities and states to boost emergency preparedness and the ability to respond to terrorist attacks.

While much of the money has gone to emergency response programs that serve our communities well, too much equipment is just sitting around in warehouses, gathering dust.

Conversely, Washington, D.C., spending on local policing has been slashed 81 percent since 2001. This despite the fact that 1.4 million Americans are victims of violent crime each year and 99,000 people have been slain in the United States since 9/11. Put another way, an average of 34 people are gunned down daily in this country.

"If al-Qaeda were responsible for 34 deaths a day in the United States, the nation would do whatever was necessary to stop the deaths," the mayors said in a recent open letter to the next president.

The average American is much more likely to be a victim of a violent crime than a terrorist attack.

It is time to shift some of the anti-terrorism spending back to fighting violent crime.