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Obama shouldn't waste stimulus money on Byrne grants

Some bad ideas apparently just won't die, we learn from Radley Balko at The Agitator:President-Elect Obama?s stimulus package calls for $3 billion in new Byrne Grants, and $1 billion in COPS grants?both are federal block grant programs for local police departments. For some reason, Democrats seem to love these grants. The Bush administration and Republicans in Congress had begun phasing them out. As I explained in a piece for Slate last October, studies have shown both programs to be ineffective at fighting crime. Worse, there?s good evidence that they actually cause harm. While designated for community policing efforts, COPS grants have actually been used by many departments to start or outfit SWAT teams, a point I explicitly made in July 2007 to Rep...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on January 16, 2009 (boomark / email).