By Michelle Bliss
06-15-11 – North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper spoke in Wilmington this week, expressing his concern about the state budget cuts to law enforcement operations.
The nearly 20-billion-dollar spending plan was vetoed by Governor Bev Perdue over the weekend, but became law Wednesday with a veto-override from the Republican legislature.
Cooper says that law enforcement cuts will eliminate 55 victim-witness coordinator positions across the state.
"They help to coordinate the law enforcement officers, the lab analysts, and other witnesses that come to trial. We get frustrated when we have to send law enforcement officers and lab analysts to court and they have to wait around. A coordinator helps to make that much more efficient. They tell them when they need to be there and helps the District Attorney coordinate the calendar."
With fewer employees in victim-witness coordinator positions, the work of crime lab analysts may be slowed. Cooper also says that under the budget, local law enforcement agencies across the state will have fewer officers from the State Bureau of Investigation available to help solve local crimes.
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