Texas gains more than 2,000 police officers

From staff and wire reports

WASHINGTON - A torrent of dollars is flowing from federal coffers to communities large and small under the 100,000 cops-on-the-beat initiative President Clinton is fond of bragging about.

Texas law enforcement agencies received $126 million of the $2.2 billion awarded by August - for a gain of 2,274 Texas officers - according to an Associated Press computer analysis of Justice Department figures.

Critics of the program suggest resources aren't being targeted to the most needy areas. In Texas, a quarter of the money went to communities of 10,000 or less - most reporting violent crime rates below the national average.

But violent crime constitutes only one facet of law enforcement, the director of the Community Oriented Policing Services program stresses. "Policing deals with issues that go well beyond criminal behavior alone," said Joe Brann.

Others share his view.

"There's a lot of other things that happen that officers need to be out there for, not necessarily just crime," said Dora Ballard of the Comanche County Sheriff's Department in Central Texas.

The department, which reported only five violent crimes in 1994, received $51,572 to add one officer to its five-deputy squad. The deputies patrol, serve warrants and respond to domestic calls and accidents, among other duties, Ballard says.

Other Big Country cities and counties receiving grants included:

-- Abilene: $162,413 to hire two new officers and buy equipment. The city had 721 violent crimes in 1994.

-- Ballinger: $15,000 for equipment. The Runnels County seat reported 17 violent offenses in 1994.

-- Big Spring: $83,129 for one new officer and equipment. The city had 107 violent crimes in 1994.

-- Colorado City: $87,513 for one new officer and equipment. The city had 14 violent crimes in 1994.

-- Comanche: $69,325 for one new officer and equipment. The Comanche County seat had 10 violent crimes in 1994.

-- Gorman: $72,455 for three new officers. There were no violent crimes in Gorman.

-- Haskell: $53,091 for one new officer. There were no violent crimes in Haskell.

-- Stamford: $45,781 for one new officer. There were 15 violent crimes reported.

-- Stephenville: $146,906 for two new officers. There were 13 violent crimes in 1994.

-- Winters: $50,916 for one new officer. There were 29 violent crimes in 1994.

-- Erath County: $73,656 for one new officer. There were 31 violent crimes in the county in 1994.

-- Mills County: $63,169 for one new officer. There were two violent crimes reported in 1994.

BIGGEST RECIPIENT

Houston, where community policing is enthusiastically touted by Mayor Bob Lanier and police Chief Sam Nuchia, is the biggest Texas recipient of the funding.

The $27 million "has allowed the Houston Police Department to put more officers in the neighborhoods, on the streets where they are the most visible and the greatest deterrent to crime, and also to work with the people in the community," said Lt. Wayne Roger Goralski. "It's made a big difference."

Houston hired 151 new officers; obtained the equivalent of 174 cops by buying laptop computers and equipment allowing existing officers to spend more time on patrol; and got enough overtime pay to provide the equivalent of 189 officers.

Communities must pony up a 25 percent match to obtain federal funds - a criteria that has kept some from taking as much as they're eligible for, others from participating at all. Another hurdle is that the federal funding expires after three years, leaving local taxpayers to fully shoulder a new burden.

Howard County Judge Ben Lockhart said budgetary constraints forced the Howard County Sheriff's Department to turn down the possibility of federal funds.

"We couldn't afford to pick up funding the new officers at end of the three-year period," Lockhart said. "We're in such a crunch anyway that we have to scrape to keep what we've got. It just wasn't an option for us." Among Texas cities reporting at least 100 violent crimes in 1994, some 44 decided not to take the Washington money.

"We felt that with our budgetary constraints ... we did not want to go out and seek additional funds for more officers that we would have to find funding for later on," said Harlingen assistant police chief Robert Archer.

Asked why Houston embraced the program with such gusto when other cities waded in more cautiously, Goralski said: "Both the chief and Mayor Lanier have made a commitment to getting all the tax dollars that they can get back to Houston from the federal government."