Budget delays force hiring freeze at federal crime fighting agencies

Friday, January 12th 2007, 5:54 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) _ A hiring freeze has hit two federal crime fighting agencies and a third has slowed its recruitment efforts because of congressional budget delays that some officials say threaten efforts to combat terrorism and violent crime.

The hiring crunch is largely the result of Congress' failure to approve the Justice Department's 2007 spending request. Lawmakers who oversee spending bills are now negotiating how much _ if at all _ to increase government spending. In the meantime, the agencies are being funded according to last year's budget levels.

Justice Department agencies feeling the squeeze are:

_The Drug Enforcement Agency. A hiring freeze is expected to last through 2007, said chief financial officer Frank Kalder. Although more than 400 agents and support staff are expected to quit or retire this year, Kalder said the DEA might have to furlough additional employees if Congress does not give it about $95 million more than it did in 2006. Layoffs are not being considered.

"I don't think we're the only ones in this situation," Kalder said.

_The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Agency officials are "not hiring and are not back-filling open positions," said spokeswoman Sheree Mixell. The ATF says it needs $71 million more than last year just to sustain its workforce of 4,900 employees.

_The FBI. Recruiting and hiring has slowed since the budget year began on Oct. 1. The agency has stopped advertising for job openings on its Web site. Assistant Director John Miller said the bureau still is hiring agents, linguists, analysts and other high-priority employees.

"We're not in a hiring freeze, but for the time being, we are only filling those jobs that are essential to operations," Miller said. The FBI employs about 12,600 agents and 18,000 support staff.

Nationally, violent crime rates are on the rise after a three-year lull that began in 2001, according to FBI officials. In 2005, the latest annual statistics available, the number of murders, robberies, rapes and other violent crimes rose by 2.2 percent.

Following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the FBI shifted more than 500 agents from its traditional criminal investigations _ including drug cases, bank robberies and white-collar crimes _ to counterterrorism and counterintelligence programs that became the bureau's top priority. In response, the DEA hired about 500 additional agents between 2001 and 2006 to maintain the government's focus on drug investigations.

Without a budget in place, "the FBI and DOJ will not be able to maintain the operations tempo they've achieved since Sept. 11," said Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., said who chairs the Senate Appropriations panel that oversees Justice Department spending. She blamed Republicans for the funding delays.

"It means that they will not be able to hire and keep the agents that they have," Mikulski said. "This is an outrageous thing."

A spokeswoman for Sen. Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican who last year chaired that panel, declined to comment.

Peter Moskos, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, said "it's hard for things to get better if you have fewer agents" pursuing crime.

"From a public safety standpoint, a hiring freeze is the same as a layoff, because it's fewer people not working," he said. "Ultimately, it matters."