Executive

Waste of the Day: Throwback Thursday: Cities Used Crime Prevention Funds on Soccer Games, Paper Shredding

Cities shamelessly misused federal Weed and Seed funds to pay for such frivolous pursuits as soccer games and corrugated cardboard shredding.

Published

4 months ago

July 25, 2024

Adam Andrzejewski

Topline: The Department of Justice’s “Weed & Seed” program had a noble goal of “weeding” out criminals and “seeding” crime prevention initiatives. But in 2008, the program used some of its $32 million Congressional appropriation not on police patrols and community safety groups, but to fund soccer games, hip-hop classes and more.

This is crime prevention?

That’s according to the “Wastebook” reporting published by the late U.S. Senator Dr. Tom Coburn. For years, these reports shined a white-hot spotlight on federal frauds and taxpayer abuses.

Coburn, the legendary U.S. Senator from Oklahoma, earned the nickname “Dr. No” by stopping thousands of pork-barrel projects using the Senate rules. Projects that he couldn’t stop, Coburn included in his oversight reports.

Coburn’s Wastebook 2008 included 65 examples of outrageous spending worth more than $1.3 billion, including the money spent on “Weed & Seed” — which would be worth $46.4 million today.

Search all federal, state and local government salaries and vendor spending with the AI search bot, Benjamin, at OpenTheBooks.com.

Waste of the Day Throwback Thursday Cities Used Crime Prevention Funds on Soccer Games, Paper Shredding — Waste of the Day 7.25.24 by Open the Books

Key facts: In both 1999 and 2004, the Government Accountability Office published reports warning officials that the Weed & Seed program had the potential to waste taxpayer money because it did not have “sound management practices.”

That was borne out in 2008. One police department in West Ashville, North Carolina used its Weed & Seed grant to host a “Shred-a-thon” where locals shredded cardboard boxes into mulch for a “Community Peace Garden.”

Youngstown, Ohio grant recipients provided lawnmower maintenance classes to local children. Allentown, Pennsylvania and Modesto, California both offered hip-hop and jazz dance classes.

The soccer games

One hundred sixth-graders in a Philadelphia school used grant funds to go on a camping trip. The spending was apparently justified because, as the school’s assistant principal lamented, “a great deal of time is focused on academics and little time is available for this type of experience.”

Indianapolis, Indiana spent part of its $1 million grant on an indoor soccer league and on buying paper traffic tickets.

The tickets, though, were not used for actual legal infractions. Police officers used them to notify locals who had left valuables inside their cars — just as a friendly reminder.

Perhaps drivers should have instead been warned about how much of their money was being spent on this so-called “crime prevention” measure.

Summary: The Weed & Seed program awarded grants to 300 cities over 19 years before it ended in 2010. How much money actually went toward fighting crime?

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.

This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.

Adam Andrzejewski

CEO at OpenTheBooks.com | Website | + posts

Adam Andrzejewski (say: Angie-eff-ski) was the CEO/founder of OpenTheBooks.com. Before dedicating his life to public service, Adam co-founded HomePages Directories, a $20 million publishing company (1997-2007). His works have been featured on the BBC, Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, C-SPAN, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, FOX News, CNN, National Public Radio (NPR), Forbes, Newsweek, and many other national media.

Today, OpenTheBooks.com is the largest private repository of U.S. public-sector spending. Mission: post "every dime, online, in real time." In 2022, OpenTheBooks.com captured nearly all public expenditures in the country, including nearly all disclosed federal government spending; 50 of 50 state checkbooks; and 25 million public employee salary and pension records from 50,000 public bodies across America.

The group's aggressive transparency and forensic auditing of government spending has led to the assembly of grand juries, indictments, and successful prosecutions; congressional briefings, hearings, and subpoenas; Government Accountability Office (GAO) audits; Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports; federal legislation; and much more.

Our Honorary Chairman - In Memoriam is U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, MD.

Andrzejewski's federal oversight work was included in the President's Budget To Congress FY2021. The budget cited his organization by name, bullet-pointed their findings, and footnoted/hyperlinked to their report.

Posted on YouTube, Andrzejewski's presentation, The Depth of the Swamp, at the Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar 2020 in Naples, Florida received 3.8 million views.

Andrzejewski has spoken at the Columbia School of Journalism, Harvard Law School and the law schools at Georgetown and George Washington regarding big data journalism. As a senior policy contributor at Forbes, Adam had nearly 20 million pageviews on 206 published investigations. In 2022, investigative fact-finding on Dr. Fauci's finances led to his cancellation at Forbes.

In 2022, Andrzejewski did 473 live television and radio interviews across broadcast, major cable platforms, and radio shows. Andrzejewski is the author of The Waste of the Day column at Real Clear Policy. The column is syndicated by Sinclair Broadcast Group, owners of nearly 200 ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX affiliates across USA.

Andrzejewski passed away in his sleep at his home in in Hinsdale, Illinois, on August 18, 2024. He is survived by his wife Kerry and three daughters. He also served as a lector at St. Isaac Jogues Catholic Church and finished the Chicago Marathon eight times (PR 3:58.49 in 2022).

Waste of the Day articles published after August 18, 2024 are considered posthumous publications.