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DELANEY: DRUG TASK FORCE STILL A GO FOR THIS YEAR

A multi-county drug task force should be operational sometime this year, Pipestone County Sheriff Dan Delaney told county commissioners Tuesday morning. 

Delaney met with commissioners to update them on the project, which involves five and possibly six counties.  Jackson, Rock, Murray and Nobles are four counties committed to the project, while Cottonwood is also considering entry into the project.  The counties are already sharing information, Delaney said. 

The task force will replace the old Southwest Drug Task Force, which was disbanded in 1997.  With increased methamphetamine use -- many of the multiple prisoners sentenced to prison in Pipestone County last year were due to meth use -- Delaney said counties feel a need to re-establish a drug task force to combat the problem. 

Not only will information be shared, but the counties will work together to apprehend criminals who are engaging in controlled substance crime.  Delaney said he began meeting with representatives from other counties last September, with an eye on applying for grant funds this year.  But the organization is already operational and the counties are working together, he said.  A joint powers agreement, which will come to the county board for approval, is now in the works. 

The local drug task force would join 21 others which have been formed across the state of Minnesota.  The largest of these task forces encompasses 15 counties; the majority limit participation to five or six counties.  "We want to make sure we're not too big and so we're limiting ( membership ) to six counties," Delaney said. 

He said Lyon and Redwood counties, to the north, are involved in another similar drug task force.  In all cases, the organizations share information - -- not only regionally, but between states like Minnesota and South Dakota - -- with an eye on apprehending offenders.  The offenders, he said, do not recognize county lines, so the drug task force won't, either. 

Delaney asked commissioners to be aware that even a fifth-degree drug charge is an alleged felony, and "may represent several weeks or months of investigation."

Delaney said the K-9 dog unit in the department is working well and has been used for periodic inspections at Pipestone Area School ( but not in Edgerton or RTR, since those districts have not requested the unit.  ) Delaney said the K-9 inspections at Pipestone Area School have yielded no narcotics.  "That tells me there is no drug problem in Pipestone Area School," he said, adding that signs have been placed in the school noting that random searches could be conducted, and that cars in the school parking lot are also subject to search. 

Delaney, in response to other commission questions, said he has taken the K-9 unit to community organizations to educate the public on the program and what the department is doing. 

In addition to a joint powers agreement, Delaney said, he hopes to include an anonymous tipline that people can use to contact law enforcement.