WHEAT: HANCOCK II BAD FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alan Wheat told a group of law enforcement officers Thursday that passage of Amendment 7 would have a devastating impact on anti-crime efforts in Missouri.

Wheat, a Kansas Citian who is ending a 12-year career in the U.S. House of Representatives to run for the Senate, said he has never taken a stand on statewide issues since being elected to Congress.

But because of the cuts the amendment would bring to state government, Wheat said he has decided to devote part of his Senate campaign to warning citizens of its impact.

His opponent, Republican John Ashcroft, supports Amendment 7 but has attempted to qualify that stance.

Wheat urged all candidates for office in Missouri to join with him in opposing Amendment 7, also known as Hancock II.

If it passes, Wheat said, Missouri will become a "less compassionate state, with far less capacity to provide help to people who need it."

Speaking at the Cape Girardeau Police Department to about two dozen people, Wheat said cuts from law enforcement would take more than $46 million away from the state Department of Public Safety and $55 million from the state Department of Corrections.

Cuts in public safety would result in the loss of more than 700 personnel from the highway patrol, while cuts from corrections would eliminate 2,800 prison beds, he said.

He said a number of special programs would be eliminated, including the DARE program designed to encourage young people to stay off drugs.

Cape Girardeau Police Chief Howard Boyd said the city has not taken a position on Amendment 7, but cuts in law enforcement agencies would be felt in Cape Girardeau. For example, Boyd said the city police rely heavily on the highway patrol for work with the Major Case Squad and patrolling the interstate highway within the city limits.

Police Capt. Steve Strong said major budget cuts would reduce the amount of time offenders would be incarcerated by the Division of Youth Services at a time when juvenile crime in the city has undergone a major increase.

Strong said he also fears that reducing state prison space would shift costs to local levels, with judges relying more on city and county jails for sentencing adult offenders.

Rebecca Payne, director of the safe house for abused women in Cape Girardeau, said the shelter might have to close if state matching funds are lost. She said all shelters in this part of the state would be in the same situation.

Another problem, Payne said, is that the amendment would eliminate or cut back funding to agencies that offer programs used by safe house clients.

Wheat said he thinks all safe houses in the state would be in jeopardy.

Wheat, who supported the federal crime bill approved earlier this year, said Missouri would be unable to take advantage of many of its provisions because they require the state to provide matching funds that would be unavailable under Hancock II.

He said Ashcroft's election would jeopardize public safety in Missouri because of his opposition to the crime bill and support for Amendment 7.