“The majority of the people in this area do not understand that the loss of federal support means a loss of local enforcement,” said Fred C. Smith, the district attorney in Comanche County and Cotton County, Oklahoma. “I don’t think they know how much cities and counties and local agencies depend on federal support.”
Smith said he has already felt the impact of declining federal dollars for law enforcement, noting that he has had to disband a federally funded financial crimes unit within his office as a result of diminishing aid. Financial crimes, including fraud and the exploitation of the elderly, have “skyrocketed in southwest Oklahoma,” he said.
“I no longer have the ability to address that type of crime with the focus that I did before,” he said.
Lois Lerner, director of exempt organizations for the IRS, arrives for a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on the investigation of the IRS' targeting of political groups. Lerner invoked her Fifth Amendment right to not testify and caused a protest from some committee members when she offered an opening statement and engaged in dialogue with members before invoking the right.
Roll Call has launched a new feature, Hill Navigator, to advise congressional staffers and would-be staffers on how to manage workplace issues on Capitol Hill. Please send us your questions — anything from office etiquette, to handling awkward moments, to what happens when the work life gets too personal. Submissions will be treated anonymously.
