Yesterday, the Dougherty County Commission approved of the Dougherty DA’s office applying for federal grants totalling in the neighborhood of $200,000 to fund four staff positions. These positions are apparently required to help deal with domestic violence cases. This is to help offset cuts mandated at the state level, because as District Attorney Greg Edwards said, “In a recession the crime doesn’t stop because we have to cut our budgets,”* which is a sentiment I can agree with.
Here’s the thing. This is the same DA’s office that recently raided several local convenience stores with illegal gambling operations going on. In addition, there have been recent operations against prostitutes all over town. Needless to say, both of these operations either required or will require a great deal of District Attorney Office resources to prosecute. And yet neither of these crimes actually had a victim, did they?
A one-time grant to fund positions is gambling with taxpayer money. Grants such as these usually stipulate that you must maintain those positions for a certain number of years after the grant runs out. Edwards told the Albany Herald that this is to help “weather the storm” until the economy improves without hitting tax payers. But there’s no crystal ball when it comes to the economy. What if it’s not better by the time the grant money runs out?
Mr. Edwards is gambling, a crime that his office has aggressively prosecuted, but he’s doing it with our tax money. While his intent is good, is getting in bed with Uncle Sam the best way to fund these positions? Or perhaps it’s time to be a bit more strategic on their prosecutions.
I sincerely hope that Mr. Edwards plan works out the way he intends for it to do. Because if not, we’re the ones stuck holding the bill.
Tom, I asked the queston about having to guarantee the positions and was told that this grant doesn’t have that requirement. Unlike the grant the police department is applying for that requires they retain them for 3 years.
That’s a good thing then, but it’s still a ridiculous move in my opinion. The idea that those grants don’t impact the tax payer is silly, since where does the money for those grants ultimately come from? That leaves me to wonder what other strings are attached to it. There are always strings after all.
I agree with you, we are still paying for it, just on the federal level and not local. Good question on what strings are attached. I need to get a copy and read the entire grant to see. Nothing comes from Washington without strings.
Exactly. Usually for these types of grants it’s to keep the position for so many years afterwards, like the PD grants you mentioned above. But I’ll have to do some checking myself and see.
Tom,
First of all, I would like to thank you for generating public discussion on this particular topic. However, I would like to take this time to correct a couple of inaccuracies in your post.
Unlike other local agencies, the District Attorney’s Office is a hybrid organization composed of state paid and county paid employees. Currently, the State is furloughing its state-paid prosecutors and employees 2 days a month. This applies to 6 attorneys, 1 investigator and 2 secretaries. Moreover, the office is operating with one less attorney and two less victim advocates than is provided for in the County budget. Because of the unfortunate economic crisis, and the resulting county-wide hiring freeze, these positions cannot be filled. Simply stated, as a direct result of the economic crisis the District Attorney’s Office has suffered an exponential loss of man power.
Sadly, the effects of this loss of manpower have been compounded by the fact that the economic crisis has spawned a significant spike in crime in the Albany area. This has been particularly true in the area of domestic abuse, as our office has seen a tremendous rise in crimes of violence against women.
The 2009 Recovery Act has made grant funding available for District Attorney’s Offices to use for the specific purposes of filling frozen positions and to fill jobs that will help to reduce the backlog of crimes of violence against women. The 2009 VOCA and STOP VAWA (Violence Against Women Act) grants that the District Attorneys Office applied for do not require a commitment from the County to sustain the positions after the grant expires. In fact, I discussed this fact specifically with the Dougherty County Commission when I requested permission on behalf of the office to apply for the grants. Moreover, assuming that the District Attorney’s Office receives grant funding, each employee will be specifically instructed that their position is grant funded and there is no gurantee that their position will be funded at the end of the grant cycle. This, likewise, was discussed in detail at the Dougherty Commission meeting. Additionally, should the economic situation not improve and allow the County to lift the current hiring freeze, then the District Attorney’s Office will apply for additional Federal Grants in an effort to sustain these necessary positions. If this is unsuccessful, then the positions will be terminated with no obligation to the County. Again, all employees hired pursuant to this grant will be made fully aware of the fact that funding may not be available after 12 months.
I would also like to address your comment that the DA’s Office gambling machine sting is prosecuting a “victimless crime”. Unfortunately, this is a common misconception that members of the public often have regarding these types of investigations. However, it could not be further from the truth. In the case of Hemang Patel et al., (owner of several A & J convenience stores)Mr. Patel and his wife were running multiple convenience stores. They profited hundreds of thousands of dollars from their illegal gambling operation at their Newton Road store. Sadly, the victims in these gambling operations are the currently overburdened taxpaying citizens. The reason why I say that is because Mr. Patel and his wife primarily made their gambling money from the poor and people who are already on government subsidies. In fact, our investigation also revealed that the Patels were discontinued by the state from being able to accept WIC cards. The reason why they were discontinued was because they had committed massive welfare fraud by allowing people with food stamp cards to either purchase illegal items (cigarettes, alcohol) or to cash their food stamp cards in for a slight kickback to the A & J Foodstore. Undoubtedly, in those instances the money that was given to the person who was fraudulently cashing in their food stamp card ultimately ended up in either a gambling machine in the back room or for some other illegal purpose. Please remember that these dollars that were being received by the A & J Food Store were TAXPAYER DOLLARS. Moreover, of the hundreds of thousands of dollars that the A & J Foodstore received pursuant to their illegal gambling machine, absolutely zero of those dollars were reported to the federal government as taxable income. Additionally, I am sure that you will not be surprised to find out that the Patel family owned a huge home in a golf course community, had multiple vehicles, approximately $30,000 in cash at their home, and because of their “creative accounting” were able to qualify for Peach Care for their children. Simply stated, the Patel family was victimizing each and every hard working taxpaying citizen in the Dougherty County area. Moreover, because of this joint operation by the Sheriff’s Office and the District Attorney’s Office, the State will be able to keep a large portion of the Patels’ assets for future investigations and to offset the cost of this particular operation. All in all, when the day is over the Patels will no longer be able to victimize the taxpayers any longer and the State’s investigation will have paid for itself and perhaps a few future investigations.
Again, Tom, I thank you for spawning discussion on these particular topics. Given the current economic situation, you are certainly justified in scrutinizing how your taxpayer dollars are spent.
Sincerely,
Christopher Cohilas
Christopher,
First, I want to thank you for taking the time to respond to us here at SWGA Politics. One of the great things about the blog format is the interaction possible.
I do understand where you’re coming from on the manpower loss, and really I’m torn about how to deal with it myself. I still feel that grant money ultimately comes from the taxpayers anyways, but at least there’s a plan for dealing with the situation should the economy not improve. Thanks for sharing it with us.
As for the gambling, I’m afraid I still have to disagree with you. Gambling itself is still a victimless crime. While Mr. Patel may well have committed fraud, a crime that I personally agree should be prosecuted vigorously, I can’t help but point out that while the poor may have indeed been the target of his operation, they made a decision to spend what little money they had in such a manner. However, the poor have also spent their money on things like alcohol and cigarettes in much the same way, neither of which is illegal for them to do (unless they use WIC money for that as you point out Mr. Patel did).
Just to clarify though, my comments about the use of resources involving the gambling sting and prostitution operations were not criticisms of the District Attorney’s office in the least. The office is tasked with enforcing the laws, and enforce them you must do. My issue is with the laws themselves, laws which encourage those who make money through such “ventures” to not report that income to the IRS. Until that day, I respect the DA’s office for doing their best to enforce the laws of this state and nation. I just wish the laws would change so your resources (which I don’t feel should be reduced in the unlikely event these crimes were made legal) could be better spent.
And how is this different from the state lottery?
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Tom: I am going to have to disagree with you about prostitution being a “victimless” crime. Trading sexual acts for money on it’s face is victimless. It is the root causes and side effects of prostitution that make it necessary to prosecute these individuals.
First, in my professional experience (law enforcement) the prostitutes walking our streets are doing so to support a cocaine and/or meth addictiion.
Second, I have been involved in one way or another with the investigation of multiple serial rapists who target prostitutes. I have seen prostitutes severely beaten or murdered. The ones who survive are treated at local hospitals and of course since prostitution does not come with a health plan taxpayers are left footing the bill. The ones who are murdered require thousands of dollars in police manpower and resources to investigate the homicides. I know of 3 unsolved homicides involving prostitutes. While I do agree the prostitutes put themselves in this position by their own choice, they do not deserve a “death sentence” or to be violently raped.
Third, because of their lifestyle prostitutes acquire and transmit to their “clients” sexually transmitted diseases. The STD’s are then passed to the unknowing wife or girlfriend of the “client”. Again, the prostitutes go to a local hospital for treatment, don’t pay their bill, and the taxpayers are left to pay the costs.
If law enforcement continues to target these prostitutes hopefully it will deter them from walking the streets at all hours of the day and plaguing our community. Further, law enforcement is directed to where these prostitutes operate by the complaints of the good citizens of the neighborhoods where these women sell their “goods”. They do not want to look out their windows and see, or have the children see, these women. I am sure you would not hesitate to call the police if this was occurring in your neighborhood.
It all comes down to a quality of life issue.
Jason, I’ve heard that argument for years about the side crimes that are the reason prostitution has to be illegal and enforced. You bring up several, and I’d like to address those.
First, the addictions you mention are, IMHO, another victimless crime. If they want to screw up their bodies by ingesting that crap, then I don’t see why my tax dollars should stop them. I accept that this is far from the majority opinion however. You also bring up serial rapists (and in other communities, we can also say serial killers.). I’d like to draw your attention to the state I’m a HUGE fan of when it comes to prostitution, Nevada.
Prostitution is regulated there. Girls are tested VERY regularly (weekly for many diseases) and standards are in place requiring the use of a condom. This has made the STD rate among Nevada prostitutes practically nil. They are also required to work in a free standing building. These buildings often resemble fortresses from what I’ve seen. You don’t get in easily, and you don’t get out easily either. This provides a great deal of security for these girls that prevents the rape and murder scenarios that prostitutes in the other 49 states face.
Not only that, but these girls are tax payers because they are required to. They’re lawfully employed, so the brothels are required to take out withholding taxes and everything. The brothels also employ other workers like bartenders and receptionists, etc, providing a solid economic impact n the communities.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t fault law enforcement for enforcing the laws on the books. I fault the books for not taking what is a major problem and working it out like Nevada did so that these other crimes are no longer tied to it.
Now, as for prostitution being a victimless crime, I still maintain it is. However, rape and murder aren’t. But by what logic does it make sense to prosecute someone for a crime where no one gets hurt so that they’ll not be the victim of another crime? Those prosecutions can make it much harder on these girls to get acceptance when they clean up their acts. Yes, law enforcement’s hands are tied and they have to prosecute, but my issue is that it’s a law that shouldn’t be there.