Another program is called to be investigated.
From Washington Post:
Now members of Congress and watchdog groups are calling on investigators to expand their inquiry into the Byrne Grant program, the federal government's primary effort to support local crime fighting across the nation.
From Washington Post:
Now members of Congress and watchdog groups are calling on investigators to expand their inquiry into the Byrne Grant program, the federal government's primary effort to support local crime fighting across the nation.
"Grant programs are a great tool for distributing federal funds, but only if the process is truly open, fair and competitive," said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), who is demanding more information from the Justice Department. "Some bureaucrat cannot decide on a whim who gets precious tax dollars. It's insulting to all the programs that work hard on their applications to have merit take a back seat to who you know."
At the same time, the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), a watchdog group, McCaskill and current and former Justice Department employees have raised questions about the prestigious Byrne grant program, which dispatches a huge amount of money each year to groups that battle crime.
One source said that staff members in the Bureau of Justice Assistance, which oversees the Byrne grants, last year plucked some applications from other categories in a rush to find enough recipients for grants that target violent crime. The winners were awarded Byrne grants and given extra financial incentives in the form of a 10 percent "information sharing enhancement," according to an Aug. 27, 2007, memo by Domingo S. Herraiz, who leads the bureau.
Herraiz said in the "revised" funding recommendation memo that the unit had received 128 applications, 106 of which were "subsequently externally peer reviewed."
One of the applications that did not undergo such review was a $296,168 award to the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services for an anti-gang initiative in the city of Columbus, according to the documents, which were obtained by POGO.
Herraiz said in the "revised" funding recommendation memo that the unit had received 128 applications, 106 of which were "subsequently externally peer reviewed."
One of the applications that did not undergo such review was a $296,168 award to the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services for an anti-gang initiative in the city of Columbus, according to the documents, which were obtained by POGO.
Prior to his Senate confirmation in 2004, Herraiz had served as director of the Ohio agency.
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