By Ed Somers
July 16, 2007

Under the leadership of Mayor Robert Duffy of Rochester, NY, the Criminal and Social Justice Committee approved a number of major policy resolutions during the Annual Conference on issues such as illegal guns, immigration reform, homeland security, voting rights for the District of Columbia, and repeal of the Real ID Act.

The committee rejected a proposed resolution calling on the House of Representatives to initiate impeachment proceedings against President Bush.

Duffy updated the Committee on progress being made on restoring key law enforcement partnership programs, as called for in the Mayors’ 10-Point Plan.

The House Appropriations Committee bill provides $725 million for the COPS program, of which $100 million is for hiring. This is a $183 million increase, and the first time in several years that there would be hiring grants. And, the House bill provides $600 million for the JAG formula block grant, an $80 million increase.

The Senate Appropriations bill would provide level funding of $550 million for COPS, and $595 million for the JAG formula program.

Building on a discussion started at the January 2007 USCM Winter Meeting by St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, the committee was joined by representatives from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to discuss the collection and use of crime statistics.

Mayor Slay has expressed serious concern that crime statistics are not collected in a uniform manner, and are re-packaged by private groups in a way that often misstate the true nature of the crime problem in cities. This concern was echoed by many committee members.

FBI Section Chief Robert Casey and Unit Chief Greg Scarbro strongly agreed with the mayors that statistics in the Uniformed Crime Reports are not consistent and should not be used to compare one city against another, or create national rankings.

As called for in adopted resolution #58, the FBI officials agreed to form a task force with the Conference of Mayors to work on the issue. They also agreed to include the Conference of Mayors in the official press conference held when the statistics are released, and to have a high-level official ready to help refute false press reports when statistics are misused.

Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign and Center to Prevent Gun Violence, updated the mayors on gun safety legislation pending in Congress. Unfortunately, both House and Senate appropriations bills currently contain the so-called Tiahrt Amendment which limits the ability of law enforcement to share illegal gun trace data. Efforts are continuing to remove this language as called for in resolution #57.

• Providing Prisoners Reentering Society and Ex-Offenders Greater Opportunities to Attain Self-Sufficiency

• Helping Young People with Criminal Records Become Self-Sufficient

• Supporting Voting Rights for Residents of the District of Columbia

• In Support of Efforts to Fight Illegal Guns

• Urging the Development of an Official System for the Management and Release of Crime Data

• Building Safer Communities Through Deployment of Less-Lethal Police Technologies

• Resolution to Reduce the Recurrence of Violent Crime

• Human Trafficking: Prevention and Prosecution

• Fund Homeland Security Initiatives Related to Bioterrorism and Public Health Preparedness

• Protecting City Critical Assets Underground Infrastructure and Manhole Security

• Assuring National Disaster Response Capabilities by Authorizing and Fully Funding Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces

• Supporting the Repeal of The Real ID Act of 2005

• Comprehensive Immigration Reform

• U.S. Immigration and Border Security Policy

• A New Bottom Line in Reducing the Harms of Substance Abuse