Pubdate: Tue, 27 Aug 2002
Source: Chattanooga Times Free Press (TN)
Copyright: 2002 Chattanooga Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.timesfreepress.com/index.html
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/992
Author: Nikki Middlebrooks

FEWER AGENTS FIGHT GROWING DRUG PROBLEM

Region task force also operating with less funding

LAFAYETTE, Ga. - As the drug problem in Northwest Georgia continues to 
grow, the number of agents with the drug task force serving the area is at 
an all-time low, a task force commander said. "We used to be proactive 
against drugs in this area," Chris Hill, co mmander with the Lookout 
Mountain Judicial Circuit Drug Task Force, said. "Drugs have become such a 
problem that all we're doing now is reacting." One North Georgia sheriff 
said funding and policy changes were reasons he pulled his officers out of 
the force. "We still have a relationship with them and help them when they 
need it," Dade County Sheriff Philip Street said. "It was more practical 
for our county to pull out." The Drug Task Force originally included agents 
from Dade, Walker, Catoosa and Chattooga counties, which comprise the 
Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit. Other agents on the force were from 
cities within each county and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Mr. Hill 
said. In the 1990s, eight to nine agents served on the force each year, he 
said. As many as 14 agents have served at one time, Mr. Hill said. Now 
there are five agents and one administrative assistant, he said. Catoosa 
and Dade counties, the Fort Oglethorpe Police Department and the GBI have 
all pulled their agents and resources from the force. The force 
investigates an average of 250 to 300 drug-related cases each year, Mr. 
Hill said. Three years ago, the amount would have included those in which 
the force assisted in county cases.

Now, the task force handles that many by itself, he said. Sheriff Street 
pulled out of the task force a little more than a year ago. He said his was 
the latest department to leave. A new policy required agents to meet at the 
headquarters in LaFayette each day. Sheriff Street said he was having to 
pay for the officers' drive time from Trenton to LaFayette. Items seized 
during drug busts, though collected in Dade County, would become property 
of the task force.

Seized property can be auctioned and the money added to the agency's 
budget. Last year, Dade County was able to put about $60,000 in its coffers 
from the sale of seized property, Sheriff Street said. The money was used 
to buy a drug dog and a new car for detectives. Despite reduced manpower, 
Mr. Hill said task force agents are making more drug busts. "We've cleaned 
up 18 (methamphetamine) labs in four weeks," Mr. Hill said. "A meth lab 
used to be a big deal. Now it's so common." The federal government funds 75 
percent of the task force's budget and the local agencies pay the remaining 
25 percent. This year, the task force received the federal Edward Bryne 
Memorial Drug Control Grant for $231,500. Last year, the grant was 
$258,000, Mr. Hill said. If the federal money decreases, the local match 
increases.

But the money stays the same regardless. "It makes it hard to afford a 
cost-of-living raise for employees," Mr. Hill said.
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