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 Law enforcement will never see any money from the sentencing
reform bill, despite what promises may have been made by the bill's
proponents, Pasco said Biden conveyed to him in a closed-door
meeting.
The candid conversation between Pasco, who represents the largest
U.S. police union, and Biden, author of a 1994 crime bill that
guaranteed billions of dollars for cops, highlights the waning
influence of the law enforcement lobby in the debate over whether to
reform the criminal justice system.
The conversation between Biden and Pasco came just two weeks before
a congressional committee on Monday is slated to consider the
legislation, a response to concerns about America having the highest
incarceration rate in the world.
Police groups' position on the bill has been widely seen as crucial
to its prospects. To win their support early on, authors of the bill
in Congress and some officials in the Justice Department told police
groups that money saved from reducing prison populations would go to
local and state police.
 But that looks uncertain now. As introduced on Oct. 1, the
Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act makes no such promises. It is
scheduled to be reviewed by the Senate Judiciary Committee on
Monday, with police group leaders expected to be in attendance.
"They put out a carrot, but it's a fake carrot," said Pasco.
Pasco said former Attorney General Eric Holder, current Deputy
Attorney General Sally Yates and Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the
author of the bill and a longtime law enforcement ally, told him
savings resulting from the bill would be sent to police.
He said Biden never made that promise, though the vice-president has
been the White House liaison charged with bringing police on board
with criminal justice reform.
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When Biden introduced his 1994 crime bill, theft and murder rates
were higher than they are today. With Americans now feeling safer,
public support for saving money on prisons, while giving prisoners a
second chance, is growing, polls show.
Even the conservative Koch brothers and Tea Party Republicans,
normally at odds with Obama, also support criminal justice reform,
making it a rare bipartisan issue.
At the same time, federal support for police has plunged, prompting
hiring freezes or layoffs in departments across the United States in
recent years. In 1998, the Justice Department sent $1.4 billion to
police through a grant program known as COPS. By 2014 that had
dropped to $127 million.
"Yes, we're losing our voice," said Jonathan Adler, former president
of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, a non-union
group for federal police.
Adler, who left his post last month for unrelated reasons, has been
among police leaders who fear that reducing sentencing standards
could lead to rising crime rate.
(Reporting by Julia Edwards; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Nick
Zieminski)
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