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Federal funding to fight fentanyl in jeopardy in western Washington

A reallocation of federal grant money has several law enforcement agencies worried about their ability to crack down on the opioid epidemic.

SEATTLE — Critical grant funding that has traditionally helped fund drug enforcement operations in western Washington is at risk of being reallocated, according to the Washington Department of Commerce.

The funding, which comes from the U.S. Department of Justice in the form of the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant, makes up a large portion of operations for several drug task forces. For the past 30 years, grant money is distributed in Washington state annually. Currently, the funds support a portion of the operating budgets of 16 active task forces at a cost of around $2.9 million per year. 

As it has done in the past, the Department of Commerce is reconsidering where the money should be spent. The grant money is federal dollars. But the Washington Department of Commerce determines where it goes.

"It's unfortunate," said Tobin Meyer, chief criminal deputy with the Skagit County Sheriff's Office. 

The Skagit County Inter-Local Enforcement Unit gets about a third of its funding from Byrne-JAG funds. Recently, the unit was praised for conducting a large drug bust, seizing more than half a million fentanyl pills along with other drugs.

Meyer believes cutting any kind of funding for drug enforcement operations is a mistake. Especially at a time when opioids are ravaging local communities.

“We've not really been given an opportunity to come to the table and discuss any of these changes with the policymakers," Mayer said. "We want to come to a consensus or a solution that works for everybody."

The Department of Commerce recently concluded a public comment period on the reshuffling of grant funds. A majority of public comment was opposed to the funding changes. Meyer was among them.

A Department of Commerce spokesperson said the Byrne-JAG funding program is going through a strategic planning process "to identify the highest and best use of these funds in the context of evolving community safety needs and practices."

Among those in favor of reallocating some of the funding is Attorney General Bob Ferguson. Ferguson, who also is expected to formally announce his candidacy for governor, wants some of the grant money to be spent on election workers' security.

A state advisory committee is now reviewing the potential reallocation of Byrne-JAG funding and is expected to announce grant recipients by the end of summer.

The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant is named after a New York City police officer, killed in the line of duty in 1988 while working a drug case. Since then, the grant money has always been spent on law enforcement.

Meyer is one who wants it to remain that way.

"Fentanyl is destroying communities. And as a drug task force commander, having to have to try to advocate for funding in the middle of that is counterintuitive," he said. "It boggles my mind at this point."

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