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CRAIG WATKINS
CRIMINAL DISTRICT ATTORNEYDALLAS COUNTY, TEXAS
July
21,2009
County Judge Jim FosterDallas County Commissioners Court
411
Elm StreetDallas, Texas 75202Dear Judge Foster,The purpose
of
this letter is
to
give a clear and concise overview
of
the issues andconcerns regarding the budget
of
the Dallas County District Attorney's (DA) office.First, let me begin by saying I empathize with the daunting task you and theCommissioners are faced with in terms
of
trying
to
close the $64 million budget gap inthese tough economic times. I recognize that in order to address the budget shortfall,certain sacrifices must be made for the county's financial survival. However,
as
I havestated since the budgeting process for FY201 0 began, a mandated 10% budget cut acrossthe board for all departments although convenient, is irresponsible. Instead the countyshould prioritize which departments are in a position
to
make cuts and which essentialservices, such as law enforcement, should not be cut at all and instead be funded at thesame level as the current budget for FY2009.The reality is that the Dallas County District Attorney's office has beenunderfunded and understaffed for years
as
evidenced by the crime rate and jail standards.Over the years, this lack
of
resources created an assembly line
of
justice and
as
we havewitnessed first-hand with the
20
DNA-based exonerations (the highest in the nation inone jurisdiction), assembly line justice leads
to
wrongful convictions. Needless
to
say, atthis point we will be in dire straits
if
forced to make additional cuts,
as
those cuts wouldcreate a threat
to
public safety and negatively impact the efficiency
of
the criminal justicesystem
as
a whole
in
Dallas County.Over the past couple
of
months, inaccurate information has been repeatedly disseminated
to
the citizens
of
Dallas County and the media about the
DA's
state and federal forfeiture
Frank Crowley Courts Building •
133N.
Industrial Blvd., L.B.
19
• Dallas, Texas 75207-4399 • 214/653-3600
funds and how those funds can be used. I would like
to
take this opportunity to addressthis recurring issue and provide an accurate account
of
how much money
is
currently inthose funds, what they can and more importantly carmot be used for according to stateand federal laws, and the amount
of
those funds that has already been earmarked by ouroffice to pay for essential operating expenses that the county should fund but does not.First, let's take a look at the
DA's
two federal forfeiture funds, Fund 535 andFund 540, which are both funds where the
DA's
office participates in equitable sharingwith the federal government. Fund 535 is the
DA's
Forfeiture HIDTA (High IntensityDrug Trafficking Area) Fund whereby money is generated from drug busts that a DAinvestigator who is assigned full-time to the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency)
pl2.ys
arole in the agency's tactical operations. The
DA's
office generally receives 25%
of
themoney and assets seized from these busts.As
of
June 30, 2009, the current balance
of
Fund 535 was $245,688.64. However,in accordance with the regulations on equitable sharing from the
US.
Department
of
Justice (DOJ) which specifically states, "shared resources
shall not be used
to
replaceor supplant
the appropriated resources
of
the recipient," it would be a violation
of
thelaw
to
give Dallas County money from federal forfeiture funds. Therefore,Commissioners should not even take the
DA's
federal forfeiture funds into consideration
as
it relates to the county's budget planning process. The regulations also state "therecipient agency must benefit
directly
from the sharing." For example, using this fund
to
purchase finger-printing equipment for the
Sheriffs
office does not directly benefit the
DA's
office.Noncompliance with the policies
of
the
DOl's
Guide
to
Equitable Sharing
maysubject the recipient agencies
to
one or more
of
the following sanctions: denial
of
anagency's sharing request; temporary or permanent exclusion from further participation inthe equitable sharing program; offsets from future sharing in amounts equal
to
impermissible uses; civil enforcement actions in
US.
District Court for breach
of
contract; or where warranted, federal criminal prosecution for false statements under
18
US.C.
§
1001
and/or fraud involving theft
of
federal program funds under
US.c.
§ 666,or other sections
of
the criminal code.2
Our other federal forfeiture fund
is
Fund 540, which
is
also a federal asset sharingfund. These funds are generated from cash and asset seizures resulting from variousfederal crimes. As
of
June
30,2009,
the balance in Fund 540 was $914,110.00.However, the same above-mentioned federal regulations apply to this fund in
tenns
of
what the money can and cannot be used for.Additionally, even though these two federal funds both have balances, due tocontinued inadequate funding by the county, our office has been forced to budget morethan $1.5 million in operating expenses from these funds to pay for basic, essential needsin order for the
DA's
office to be functional. Without our federal forfeiture funds, wewould not be able to pay for state bar dues for all
of
our attorneys, nor the necessaryreplacement vehicles, standardized service weapons, holsters, ammunition and bulletproof vests for our investigators. The county does not fund any
of
these operatingexpenses.In addition to the two federal funds, the
DA's
office has six state funds -Funds541, 542, 544, 545, 546 and 547. One
of
these funds is a state forfeiture fund and theother five are unadjudicated funds. Fund 541, which has a projected ending balance
of
$609,463.38, is generated from forfeited cash, automobiles and real estate. All
of
themoney in Funds 542 Unadjudicated Fund A -Attomey General with $31,501.82; 544Unadjudicated Fund B -Attomey General with $26,218.15; 545 Unadjudicated Fund
C-
G a m ~ l i n g
with $49,326.17; 546 Unadjudicated Fund D -DPS Narcotics with $83,238.02and; Fund 547 with $177,997.67, which applies to anything that does not fall underUnadjudicated Funds
A,
B,
C,
or D, is held by the
DA's
Office in trust
as
the treasury
of
the court and can only be paid out
if
litigation is won. During litigation, however, it issimply
not our money to spend.
Even
if
we win litigation, the
DA's
office is onlyentitled to approximately 20%
of
the net.State laws also regulate how forfeiture funds are used by the recipient agency andaccording to Article 59.06
of
the Texas Code
of
Criminal Procedure,
"A
commissionerscourt or governing body
of
a municipality may not use the existence
of
an
award tooffset or decrease total salaries, expenses, and allowances that the agency or theattorney receives from the commissioners court or governing body
at
or after thetime the proceeds are awarded."
3
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