Alabama sheriff makes room in budget for background screening program

A sheriff in Alabama is working to help maintain a background screening program for those convicted of crimes in the community. The Birmingham News reports that Jefferson County sheriff Mike Hale pledged $1 million from his budget to allow judges to conduct a background check for when deciding on how high to make bail. The move comes after a decision by county commissioners to cut the budget of the Treatment Alternatives to Street Crime program. In a recent announcement, Jefferson County chief deputy Randy Christian said that Hale had found the funds in his $53 million budget to help keep the program going. "The only real capital account we have is right at $1 million to help replenish our aging fleet," Christian said in an interview with the source. "That is the account Sheriff Hale identified and offered back to the commission for TASC. We can continue to get our fleet refurbished at about one third the cost of a new car and pay for it with confiscated drug money." In other background screening news, the city of Deltona, Florida, recently passed a measure that would make the checks that city employees are given more stringent, the Dayton Beach News-Journal reports.