Saying, “Justice cannot be done on the cheap, Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara said federally-mandated Justice Department cuts are putting American security at risk — and taking money out of the government’s pocket.
In an address to a lawyers’ group today, Bharara said forced hiring freezes and budget cuts have left his office “outnumbered and outspent” in the face of gang violence, drug warfare and terrorist threats.
“Justice cannot be done on the cheap, and public safety does not come free,” Bharara said.
“And the impact of a prolonged hiring freeze and continuing budget cuts could ultimately work irrevocable harm to the fundamental mission of my office — which is to keep our homeland secure, our streets safe, our markets fair, and our government honest.”
Bharara, the top federal prosecutor for the Southern District, which includes Manhattan and Westchester, said a hiring freeze has forced his office to get smaller and smaller every year.
“By January 2015, a quarter of our office’s allotted prosecutor positions will be vacant for lack of funding,” Bharara told the New York County Lawyers’ Association.
He said sequestration has cut his office’s budget by $ 5.7 million for the fiscal year 2013, a nearly 11 percent reduction from 2012.
Although the results of budget cuts are not as visible as longer security lines at airports, Bharara said the impact could be more tragic.
“Important cases will take longer to make and opportunities to pursue potentially fruitful, but labor-intensive, investigations will be foregone,” he said..
Ironically, the cutbacks come as Bharara and a handful of overworked prosecutors continue to fill the government coffers with cash, he said
For example, he said, a recent plea deal with a crooked hedge fund, SAC Capital, will lead to a $ 1.2 billion payment — 24 times his office’s annual budget of about $ 50 million.
“Should we downsize the most successful criminal asset forfeiture program in the country that added over $ 3 billion to the country’s coffers in 2012?” Bharara said.
Despite what he calls a “lack of logic of such across-the-board cuts,” prosecutors are not throwing in the towel.
“I continue to believe that while my people are often outnumbered and outspent, we are not outmatched,” Bharara said. “But there are limits to how far I can stretch even the most dedicated and hard-working public servants.”
Yahoo Local News – New York Post
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