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Los Angeles, San Bernardino County, CA March 5, 2002 Election
Smart Voter

Improving Public Safety Coordination

By Patrick D. Smith

Candidate for Member; California State Assembly; District 59; Democratic Party

This information is provided by the candidate
Our local emergency response system is ill-prepared for a major catastrophic event, such as an earthquake or terrorist attack, and the threat of terrorism has diverted critical federal resources from local coordinating activities.
Local agencies admit, our community is ill-prepared for a major catastrophic event, such as an earthquake or terrorist attack. Federal responses are designed to be in place in a matter of days, but we must ensure our state and local agencies are prepared to respond within minutes. We must ensure that emergency personnel in every community have the resources and training they need to respond effectively to local emergencies. We must ensure our emergency room and trauma system is adequately funded and we must prevent the closure of these vital elements of our local emergency response system.

In law enforcement, the threat of terrorism has diverted critical federal resources from local coordinating activities. We must enhance support of statewide law enforcement to offset this loss of resources, particularly in areas of cross-jurisdictional crime, such as drug-dealing, carjacking, kidnapping, and internet crimes, such as child pornography. These are difficult crimes for local law enforcement to investigate without assistance from a coordinating agency. We cannot afford to lose momentum in the fight against crime, even as we open up a new front against terrorism. Improving state-directed law enforcement coordination is essential.

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ca/state Created from information supplied by the candidate: February 8, 2002 16:07
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