81R10461 BPG-D
By: Guillen H.C.R. No. 125
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Crime presents a growing threat to communities along
the Texas-Mexico border, and especially to those in the South Texas
High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area identified by the National
Drug Intelligence Center; and
WHEREAS, The South Texas HIDTA region is a principal drug
smuggling corridor, and associated violence is an ever-present
threat for its 14 counties, which include Bexar, Cameron, Dimmit,
Hidalgo, Jim Hogg, Kinney, La Salle, Maverick, Starr, Val Verde,
Webb, Willacy, Zapata, and Zavala; in Mexico, entrenched drug
cartels have become increasingly brazen and dangerous, and United
States law enforcement authorities are deeply concerned about the
risk of this turmoil spilling over the border; and
WHEREAS, Criminal groups smuggle firearms as well as drugs
into Texas, and drug traffickers and gang members frequently commit
property and violent crimes to facilitate their activities and to
protect their operations from rivals; in addition, the ready
availability of narcotics in the South Texas HIDTA region presents
a public health threat, particularly to adolescents and young
adults; a recent survey conducted by the Texas Department of State
Health Services found that high school students in counties along
the border are more likely to experiment with or abuse cocaine than
their peers in other areas of Texas; and
WHEREAS, Gang members are migrating in increasing numbers
from urban areas to smaller communities, according to the NDIC's
2009 National Gang Threat Assessment; gangs in Mexico build
relationships with street gangs in the U.S. to expand their bases of
operation, recruiting from schools, prisons, and neighborhoods;
and
WHEREAS, Much of the South Texas HIDTA region is sparsely
populated, but influences more national-level drug trafficking and
drug availability than any other area along the U.S.-Mexico border;
such smaller border towns as Rio Grande City and Roma are
significant transshipment zones and distribution centers for
illicit cargo destined for drug markets in every region of the
country; and
WHEREAS, Smaller communities and less-populated counties in
this region do not have a tax base sufficient to support the level
of law enforcement necessary to effectively confront rising threats
to public safety; they have benefited, however, from federal grants
from the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) in
the Department of Justice; these grants have funded salaries for
additional police officers and sheriffs' deputies, allowed police
departments to add school resource officers, and enabled law
enforcement agencies to employ technology that enhances
efficiency, communication, and information sharing; and
WHEREAS, An increase in COPS grants to such communities in
the South Texas HIDTA region would greatly assist local efforts to
combat the threat of transnational gangs and the crime and violence
that accompanies large-scale drug smuggling operations; now,
therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 81st Legislature of the State of Texas
hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to increase
Community Oriented Policing Services grants to smaller communities
and less populated counties in the South Texas High Intensity Drug
Trafficking Area; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the
senate of the United States Congress, to the attorney general of the
United States, and to all the members of the Texas delegation to
Congress with the request that this resolution be officially
entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to the Congress of
the United States of America.