Possible budget cuts to the Department of Justice could force investigators to cancel proactive investigations into allegations of human trafficking in Montana. It was just one of the impacts brought to lawmaker’s attention if a 5% budget reduction is adopted.
The 2017 Legislature is faced with a dwindling savings account and slower revenue growth as they work to balance the state’s budget for the coming biennium. Joint House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees are delving now into the agency’s budgets.
The start of the examination into Department of Justice’s budget took place just before the kick-off at the state Capitol of a traveling art exhibit to bring awareness about the realities and effects of human trafficking.
“Each portrait tells a survivor’s real story and challenges us to think of human trafficking as something other than an abstract problem,” says Attorney General Tim Fox.
Fox says in Montana the work of investigators and prosecutors to free children and adults from human trafficking is complex and expensive.
“Unfortunately it’s possible that human trafficking investigations would end if the proposed 5% cut budget reduction and its impacts on our Division of Criminal Investigation actually take place,” he says.
Fox says a bill that became law from the 2015 session added teeth to the state’s human trafficking laws. House Bill 89 was sponsored by Rep. Kimberly Dudik, D-Missoula.
“But just as importantly it made it a requirement that we recognize victims and provide services to those victims,” says Diane Yarus of Soroptimists International - Whitefish. “We’re going to need resources and programs in place in order to carry out that out. So, when we look at cuts in budget for these programs we absolutely must resist.”
Soroptimists International – Whitefish was just one of the organizations that helped bring the “Faces of Freedom: Voices Calling for the End of Modern Day Slavery” traveling exhibit to Montana. It's from the Freedom 58 Project.
The joint Appropriations Subcommittee examining the DoJ budget listened to a presentation about the Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) and the services it provides to local law enforcement officials who are faced with complex cases and limited resources.
“We’re the Ghostbusters,” says DCI Administrator Bryan Lockerby. “Who are you gonna call? They end up calling DCI requesting assistance.” Often this is for homicide cases, officer involved shootings, drug interactions and seizures, and other investigations.
This includes proactive investigations of human trafficking.
When asked why the numbers have risen so dramatically, Lockerby says education plays a role. He says the lodging industry has received this training and is reporting suspicious activity to law enforcement. He says law enforcement also is getting this training. Lockerby says it was something he says he didn’t have when he was a police officer in 1982.
“And I probably made a traffic stop on a couple of groups of people that probably would have fit the profile of human trafficking I just didn’t know it,” he says. “I didn’t have the training and I let ‘em go.”
Lockerby says one change has been a shift from blaming the person on the street. “Let’s call it prostitution. We’ve been saying, ‘Hey you’re the criminal in this case.’ We need to look at it differently and that paradigm has shifted recently.”
He says besides curtailing investigations into human trafficking if the 5% budget cuts are made other impacts could include not as many drug cases and seizures or a loss of training for officers regarding crimes against children.
The Joint Appropriations Subcommittee on Judicial Branch, Law Enforcement and Justice continues its examination of the Department of Justice budget tomorrow.
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