WHEREAS, federal programs designed to assist state and local law enforcement agencies have played a vital role in reducing the nation’s crime rate; and WHEREAS, federal, state and local law enforcement agencies are on the front lines in confronting the most powerful and sophisticated organized crime groups ever to challenge domestic law enforcement agencies, i.e. the international drug trafficking organizations; and WHEREAS, the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) acknowledges that the Byrne Formula Grant Program was created by the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988; and WHEREAS, the IACP recognizes that the Edward Byrne Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance Grant Program is a partnership among federal, state, and local governments to create safer communities; and WHEREAS, the problems presented by the unprecedented flow of drugs into this country by these international criminal syndicates continues to be a threat in many areas of the United States, particularly middle and smaller sized cities, and rural areas; and WHEREAS, the 50 states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands are eligible to apply for formula grant funds; and WHEREAS, the IACP supports the efforts to improve functioning of the criminal justice system with emphasis on violent crime and serious offenders, and the enforcement of state and local laws similar to those in the Federal Controlled Substances Act; and WHEREAS, the lack of Byrne Grant funding will severely affect the ability of state and local law enforcement to continue drug enforcement and demand reduction efforts; and WHEREAS, state and local police are often the first responders to a terrorist attack. The IACP believes that it is important to distinguish between the assistance funds that are provided to state and local law enforcement from programs administered by the Department of Homeland Security and those provided from the existing programs at the Department of Justice; and WHEREAS, effective anti-crime programs are effective anti-terrorism programs; and evidence indicates that terrorist organizations which are funded in part by the sale of illegal drugs adds a new dimension to the need for continued investigation of narcotics-related crime; and WHEREAS, the Byrne Grant Funding Program has proven itself an invaluable resource for cooperative federal, state and local anti-crime policing strategies, funding multi-jurisdictional drug task forces and D.A.R.E. training, which are critical to state and local law enforcement responses to the drug threat; and WHEREAS, in Fiscal Year 2005, the Byrne Grant and Local Law Enforcement Block Grant were combined into one program—the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant, resulting in a significant decrease in funding; and WHEREAS, for Fiscal Year 2006 there is a proposal to terminate the state grants component of the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program which would eliminate approximately $723 million that Congress appropriated last year for the Byrne Grants; now therefore be it RESOLVED, that the IACP strongly urges Congress not to reduce the funding levels for the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program below funding levels for Fiscal Year 2005.