Ankle Bracelets and Federal grants

There has been a lot of coverage about a proposal for the city to give a portion of a Byrne Justice grant to Hamilton County for it to purchase Electronic Monitoring Units (ankle bracelets) for non-violent offenders. I voted no to this proposal. I did so for three reasons.

1. This specific Byrne Justice grant is a formula grant application to the Department of Justice. It is based on Part 1 crime statistics. Fifteen jurisdictions in Hamilton County were eligible for the following amounts:

Hamilton County $195,435
City of Cincinnati $2, 418, 209
Golf Manor $ 12,637
Lockland $ 13,508
Mt. Healthy $ 10,022
North College Hill $ 34,860
Norwood $ 67,324
Reading $ 23,531
St. Bernard $ 11,112
Sharonville $ 22,441
Loveland $ 34,642
Springdale $ 24,838
Forest Park $ 32,246
Delhi Twnshp $ 19, 391
Springfield Twnshp $ 72,553

TOTAL $2,992,749

As you can see, the city was eligible for over $2.4 million of this grant. There is a provision in the process called the Disparate Jurisdiction Provision that requires all the eligible recipients to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding regarding the allocation of funds when the county is eligible for only a small percentage of the grant. If the county does not agree to the provisions, then there is no grant. Mayor Mallory and Commissioner Pepper worked out an agreement that all other jurisdictions would get their formula allocations and the city and the county would split the balance. The city would receive $1,436,822; the county $1,176,822. This agreement was reached even though the city was eligible for $2.4 million. In essence, the city gave the county almost $1 million.

The proposal by two members of council to take almost $500,000 of what remained for the city and give it to Hamilton County ignored the $1 million already given to the county by the city.

2. Statements on the part of some officials that are quoted by the press implying that since a crime occurred in or an individual arrested lives in Cincinnati and, therefore, the city should pay for the cost of incarceration ignore both current practice and the law.

If an individual is arrested for violating a Cincinnati Municipal ordinance, the cost of that individuals incarceration is paid for by the city. If an individual is arrested for violating the laws of the state of Ohio, then Hamilton County pays the cost of incarceration because the county is the agent of the state. The citizens of Cincinnati pay taxes to the State of Ohio to cover the costs.

3. EMU's do not insure safety. Assuming the device functions properly, a person with one simply cuts it off if he or she wishes to escape oversight.

This type of issue can generate a lot of smoke, but very little light. Crime is a very serious issue. Hamilton County does need a new jail. This type of proposal does little to solve the problem and confuses the issue.