by Leslie Wollack

Two cabinet officials stressed the importance of local governments in fighting crime and protecting citizens in remarks at the International Association of Chiefs of Police meeting in Boston last week.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff outlined steps to improve information sharing with local law enforcement and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced an initiative to study the spike in violent crime in selected cities.

?Our principal partner in dealing with the threat of terror is state and local law enforcement,? said Secretary Chertoff. ?Police officers in the communities all across this country and all around the world, are the front line of our defense against terror, because the fact is, you know your communities better than anybody else.?

To strengthen that partnership, Secretary Chertoff noted that DHS would focus on ?increased, more robust and quicker sharing of information, and increased sharing of situational awareness, so that we can address threats as soon as they appear on the horizon, and so that we can manage major, multi-jurisdictional incidents if and when they occur.?

These steps would include creation of fusion centers to support state and local law enforcement, an expedited process to get more clearances for local law enforcement and incorporating local law enforcement into DHS intelligence and operations centers in order to improve the sharing of terrorist-related information.

Chertoff also addressed DHS grant programs that provide support to state and local law enforcement, which has generated much controversy over how hundreds of millions of dollars have been distributed. Noting that recent changes by Congress to restructure the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have moved the grant from DHS to FEMA, the secretary promised to ?continue to fund the very important prevention programs, which we have supported in the past in this law enforcement community and with our state and local police.?

In his address to the police chiefs, Attorney General Gonzales announced that the Department of Justice is launching a new Initiative for Safer Communities to target crime prevention efforts in communities that have shown a dramatic spike in violent crime.

Intended as a three-part initiative, the Department of Justice will investigate the increased crime in selected cities, focus on policy development to identify the root causes and match local results with existing federal programs proven effective in fighting crime.

?The Department of Justice is committed to making sure that every American city and town can share in the success of low violent crime rates,? said Attorney General Gonzales. ?The Initiative for Safer Communities will help us find and use the tools that work most effectively to fight crime and keep our communities safe.?

The Department of Justice has not identified the cities that will be examined in the first phase of the study and did not offer any new funding to help local governments combat the recent increase in crime. The initiative comes as the department is under pressure to increase federal funding for local police programs.

In September, the FBI reported violent crime rose 2.3 percent in 2005, the largest increase since 1991 and a trend some police officials have blamed on cuts in federal crime-fighting grants.