Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 26, 1993 TAG: 9308260168
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LARRY O'DELL ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
None of the proposals likely will be as controversial as the one-handgun-a-month bill the commission pushed through the legislature last winter.
The commission considered 22 proposals that would cost about $12 million, but pared down the list down because the state is facing a $500 million budget shortfall.
Secretary of Public Safety O. Randolph Rollins said he was confident money could be found for the proposals.
The agencies he supervises will be asked to look for outdated or ineffective programs that can be cut or eliminated to free money for the new ones, Rollins said.
The proposals range from $122,000 for a toll-free crime-victim assistance telephone line to $2 million to add two localities to the Anti-Crime Partnership Program.
The program, implemented in Richmond and Newport News two years ago, pools state and local resources to develop anti-crime strategies.
The commission also wants to expand the prison work-release program at a cost of $1.9 million.
The program now can accommodate 125 inmates who are within six months of parole eligibility. The commission wants to quadruple that capacity by 1998.
The commission also proposed:
Vocational testing to determine inmates' occupational interests and abilities.
Expansion of a program in which special advocates assist child sex-abuse victims.
Implementation of a one-to-one mentoring program in which adult volunteers would counsel youngsters at risk of running afoul of the law.
Training for police on the philosophy of "community policing," which emphasizes solving community problems.
The addition of 200 electronic home-monitoring devices to the 90 already in use by nonviolent offenders serving their sentences at home.
Implementation of a witness-protection program similar to the one used by the federal government.
Increased training for commonwealth's attorneys.
Salary increases for assistant commonwealth's attorneys.
Creation of 10 new assistant commonwealth's attorney positions over the next two years.
by CNB