The costs of law enforcement should be funded from the public fisc under direct legislative control. In other and harsher words, we need to terminate the symbiotic business relationship that law enforcement has with the illegal drug industry. Each scratches the other's back. One of the longest and most cherished traditions of this nation is that the military is subservient to the civilian government, and that military might shall never be engaged in domestic matters. For as long as we have been free, we have disavowed the existence of a national police force.
Law enforcement is the business of local police agencies.
Federal grants and financing of multi-governmental task forces coupled with military assistance seriously jeopardize local control of police action. The federal government must get out of domestic drug law enforcement for no reason less important than the freedom of all individuals. State and local officials are responsible for domestic law and order. There is an understandable temptation for state officials to shape their policies and programs to conform to federal grant requirements, but state legislatures must insure that control of state agencies is not abdicated in the grab for federal funds. Indeed, if legislators do not meet this responsibility, they can be defeated at the polls and replaced by those who will.