Pubdate: Tue, 25 Jun 2002
Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (AR)
Copyright: 2002 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.ardemgaz.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/25
Author: Michelle Bradford

DRUG GEAR DISPUTE LEADS TO INVENTORY

ROGERS -- State auditors were at the Rogers Police Department on Monday 
inventorying more than $100,000 worth of drug-fighting gear caught in a 
bureaucratic tug-of-war.

The Arkansas attorney general's office, which has threatened to sue Rogers 
for the return of the equipment, asked the Arkansas Division of Legislative 
Audit for the inventory. The Rogers-based 19th Judicial District Drug Task 
Force purchased the equipment before disbanding in 2001.

"We're attempting to get an accounting of what equipment is there and what 
condition it's in," attorney general spokesman Jim Pitcock said.

State Drug Director Bill Hardin said he's been asking Rogers Police Chief 
Tim Keck to turn over the surveillance cameras, night-vision gear and other 
equipment to the state for more than a year. Hardin oversees distribution 
of grant money and operations for the state's drug task forces.

Keck said Rogers bought some of the equipment in question with city money. 
The rest was paid for with a combination of city funds and U.S. Department 
of Justice grants that funded the task force before it disbanded, he said.

Hardin's position is that once a task force disbands, federal regulations 
dictate that the equipment goes back to the state.

But Rogers City Attorney Ben Lipscomb has said that terms of the task 
force's 2000 grant don't definitively state who gets the equipment. Some of 
the equipment has been upgraded with Rogers money, compounding the ambiguity.

Lipscomb said in May that the attorney general's office put him on notice 
that the agency will sue to settle the dispute. Pitcock said Monday that 
the attorney general's office would prefer to resolve the case without 
litigation.

"We're still trying to resolve the situation through all means, including 
discussion," he said.

Keck has said he offered to return some of the items to the state if Rogers 
police could keep others. Hardin turned down the offer, Keck said.

Keck worries that losing the equipment will put Rogers police at a severe 
disadvantage with organized methamphetamine operators.

The task force, which operated in Benton and Carroll counties, disbanded in 
March 2001 after Rogers police didn't resubmit an annual grant application.

Keck decided in December 2000 not to sponsor the task force, which Rogers 
police had led since its inception in 1990.

He made the decision after two of Benton County's larger police agencies, 
the Bentonville Police Department and the Benton County sheriff's office, 
withdrew their officers from the task force in late 1999.

Keck reassigned the Rogers Police Department's three task force officers to 
work drug cases inside city limits.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager