Pubdate: Tue, 22 Oct 2002
Source: Columbia Daily Herald (TN)
Website: http://www.columbiadailyherald.com/
Address: 1115 South Main Street, Columbia, TN 38401
Contact:  http://www.columbiadailyherald.com/Sound_Off/
Copyright: 2002 Columbia Daily Herald
Author: Will Morris

MAURY COUNTY DRUG TASK FORCE CLOSING UP SHOP

As part of a larger restructuring effort, the Columbia Police Department is 
pulling out of the Maury County Drug Task Force, effectively disbanding the 
unit, Chief Barry Crotzer said Monday.

Crotzer said he believes the change will allow his officers to concentrate 
on fighting the drug problem in Columbia.

"Our primary focus will be on the city, where as before, it was 
county-wide," Crozer said.

The restructuring will move all of the officers from the Criminal 
Investigations, Narcotics and Crime Suppression Units into the building 
currently occupied by the task force, Crotzer said. A new captain, promoted 
from the ranks, will head the new division.

"This is something I've wanted to for a long time," Crotzer said.

The move, which will include renovation of the building now occupied by the 
task force, will take place after the end of this year and be done with 
minimum cost, Crotzer said.

"We're not going to get elaborate, were not going to spend a lot of money," 
he said.

Currently, four narcotics and six crime suppression officers work out of a 
small converted warehouse on Pillow Drive along with two officers from the 
county.

Crotzer said the change doesn't signify a lack of interest in curtailing 
drugs in the area, or friction between departments.

"We're still going to be very aggressive enforcing drug laws. It's just not 
going to be out of the same building (with other agencies)," Crotzer said. 
"Co-operation will still be an important part of fighting drugs."

Sheriff Enoch George said he didn't expect CPD to pull out of the unit, but 
had talked with Crotzer about department restructuring.

"There's been some problem with lack of ... supervision (in the Task 
Force)," George said. "It's not my decision. We started this thing seven 
years ago. Maybe they feel it's served it usefulness."

The Sheriff's Department will still cooperate with CPD on drug busts, but 
its narcotics officers will no longer be deputized to make arrests in Maury 
County, George said.

"Well just move our people back and start our own drug department," said 
George. "We're the chief law enforcement agency in the county. We're 
responsible for covering county and the city. We'll do what we can to cover 
all the people."

Monday's announcement marks the second time a department has pulled out of 
the task force. In July, Mt. Pleasant Police Chief Tom Wilson took 
Investigator Tommy Goetz off the force. Wilson said Goetz was removed 
because of manpower issues in the department.

"In this small town, the issue is manpower. We needed more use of Tommy 
Goetz," Wilson said in July.

On Monday former County Commissioner Frank Duncan, one of the many critics 
of the Task Force, said he thinks the restructuring is a good idea.

"I think it should have been done a long time ago," he said.

Duncan, a former police officer who headed the Columbia Narcotics Unit 
before the task force was created in 1993, said he thinks putting the unit 
under the sole control of the chief will "produce more cases."

City manager Mike Miller backed Crotzer's decision but said he thinks there 
will be another task force in the future. "I think he's just trying to get 
control of his department," he said.
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