When Route 1 floods in North Attleboro, police use a pickup truck purchased with a state grant to bring traffic cones and saw horses to the scene.

The truck, according to Police Chief Michael Gould, also is used to haul generators during power outages, return stolen bicycles, plow the police station parking lot, move equipment around town, along with various other duties.

Before the purchase, North Attleboro police had to use personal vehicles for hauling duties.

State Rep. Betty Poirier, R-North Attleboro, said the truck is an example of how community police grants can best be used to aid local communities.

But Gov. Deval Patrick has other ideas. He wants the grant money to be used to hire police for high-crime areas.

Boston has had 17 murders so far this year, topping last year's pace that resulted in a total of 75 killings.

The streets of Boston could be made safer if more community policing money went to where the biggest problems lie, Patrick says.

"The governor wants the ability to focus those funds where they are needed the most," spokesman Kyle Sullivan said.

The governor's proposal would give the secretary of public safety the authority to hand out the money on a merit basis.

But that idea has run smack into the political culture of the Legislature, where taking credit for bringing home grants for the hometown is a way of life.

There currently is no merit review process for community policing grants.

Critics say the money is doled out strictly on a political basis.

According to the Executive Office of Public Safety, 83 percent of the $20 million in grants are distributed automatically to 200 communities based on budget earmarks.

Earmarks are designations inserted in the budget by lawmakers dictating that money has to go to a specific purpose. Only $3 million of the $20 million is not earmarked.

Cynthia Duggan, executive director of grants and research for the Office of Public Safety, said the agency is not allowed to weigh the need or merits of one community against another.

Communities that are earmarked get grants regardless of their crime rate or financial situation.

The cities and towns are guaranteed to receive at least as much money as they got the year before, she said.

There is not always rhyme or reason for the amounts various communities get.

Lawrence, for example, gets more money than larger cities such as Springfield and Worcester.

Furthermore, as long as the grant is used for purposes within various wide categories, the agency has no say in how the money is spent.

Allowable expenses include police overtime, equipment, training and supplies.

"The general grant is very broad," Duggan said, adding, "We don't go up and monitor. We don't check up on them."

Federally funded grants distributed by the agency have much stricter guidelines, she said.

Under the federal grant guidelines, communities must file a reimbursement request for all its spending so the agency can monitor them.

"With community policing grants, we approve the application and boom, they get a one-time payment," she said.

The application process is really a formality, because the amount a community will receive has already been determined by the Legislature.

The Patrick proposal would increase funding by $13 million, but also would allow the secretary of public safety to weigh whether North Attleboro needs a pickup truck more than Boston needs more street patrols.

Poirier said she and almost the entire House - including the Boston delegation - are opposed to the governor's plan.

She said they do not want some bureaucrat determining who gets grants.

Boston already gets more than its fair share of state aid for services such as education, she said.

Community policing grants are needed by the suburbs to handle their own problems, she said.

As for the earmarks, Poirier said, "Who is more qualified to determine where the needs lie than the local legislator?"

She acknowledges that the earmarks result in politics playing a role in the grants, but said Boston has more power in the House than any other other city or town.

"It isn't a fair system. It never has been, and never will be," she said.

Other local legislators agree.

Rep. Richard Ross, R-Wrentham, said his towns have issues they need to address.

Bullets have been found in local schools, cyber bullying and crimes have become a problem, and the Wrentham Village Premium Outlets mall has brought more development to the area, he said.

Ross said his towns use their grants to provide schools with resource officers, to create liaisons with elderly groups and for other crime-prevention programs.

"I don't think its pork barrel at all," he said.

Rep. Jay Barrows, R-Mansfield, said he likes that local police chiefs determine how to spend their grants, rather than state officials.

Under the governor's system, most of the grants would go to the big cities, he said.

Mansfield has used its grant money in the past to purchase a reverse 911 telephone system, to increase traffic patrols, give community talks, police town events and crack down on underage drinking, according to the police department.

Attleboro uses its grants for bicycle patrols, electronic speed-limit signs and other programs.

Gould said North Attleboro has purchased defibrillators, funded bicycle patrols, downtown foot patrols and other activities - along with purchasing the pickup truck.

Jack McDevitt, associate dean of criminal justice at Northeastern University in Boston, said there is merit in both arguments.

He said it is helpful to let police chiefs decide how to spend their grant money because they know where the problems are.

McDevitt said he also doubts a "marginal" increase in Boston's 2,000-person police force would do much to lower the murder rate.

However, he said the problem with the community police program is there is no attempt to track what spending works in reducing crime, and what does not.

He said the program needs increased accountability and a system to measure effectiveness.

The system of allowing the distribution of the grants to be determined by earmarks is bad public policy, he said.

The money should be allocated by need, not politics, McDevitt said.

Earmarks, he said, are based on political clout, not need.

So far, the governor seems to be fighting a losing battle in his effort to reform the system.

Although Sullivan, the governor's spokesman, said the fight is continuing, the House has already rejected Patrick's proposal, and the Senate is expected to follow suit.

JIM HAND covers politics and state government for The Sun Chronicle. He can be reached at 508-236-0399 or at jhand@thesunchronicle.com.