Pubdate: Tue, 12 Jul 2005
Source: Clarion-Ledger, The (MS)
Copyright: 2005 The Clarion-Ledger
Contact:  http://www.clarionledger.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/805
Author: Erin Puryear

NEW MBN CHIEF DRIVEN

Gov. Haley Barbour named Marshall Fisher head of the Mississippi
Bureau of Narcotics in June. Fisher has worked in law enforcement for
28 years, first in theTyler, Texas, police department before moving to
the DEA.

Shortly after busting several men in San Antonio for cooking crack
cocaine on a kitchen stove, Marshall Fisher sat holding a 2-year-old
boy in diapers on his lap.

Tears rolled down the toddler's cheeks as he watched drug-enforcement
officers put handcuffs on his father and uncle.

"Those things strengthen my resolve that this job is important,"
Fisher said.

Then, the Brandon resident was an agent with the Drug Enforcement
Administration. He now sits as the director of the Mississippi Bureau
of Narcotics.

Fisher's 28-year career in law enforcement began at a police
department in Tyler, Texas. His first DEA post was in San Antonio. In
2003, he came to Rankin County to head state DEA operations. Gov.
Haley Barbour appointed Fisher to the new post June 3.

He now leads the state's primary drug-enforcement agency, which
confiscates drugs and other contraband and arrests suspected drug
violators for prosecution on state, federal and local levels.

The 53-year-old Louisiana native said he's learned a few things from
his years as in law enforcement.

"I'm probably more alert than your average person when they're coming
out of Brookshire's going to their car with a sack of groceries,"
Fisher said.

In his career, Fisher walked through a normal home and into a
basement-turned-methamphetamine lab.

He's seen an office of DEA agents panicked at the kidnapping, torture
and murder of one of their co-workers. He's walked into a domestic
dispute between two intoxicated adults with a vodka-soaked infant
wailing at their feet.

"It has absolutely changed the way I look at things," he said. "It's
made me more aware of the fact that there are things that are out of
people's control."

According to Fisher, narcotics are the source of mostof the world's
crime-driven pain and suffering.

"I do think a great percentage of crime in this country can be traced
back, in some way, shape, form or function, to substance abuse," he
said.

It is this thought that fuels Fisher's belief in his job. His main
function - his only function - is to get drugs and drug dealers off
the streets, he said. "We're a single-mission agency," he said with a
smile. "Like Colonel Sanders - we do chicken, and that's it."

Cocaine is the biggest threat in the state today, he said, but meth is
creeping up and may be on top tomorrow.

Rankin County Sheriff Ronnie Pennington worked with Fisher often
during Fisher's time at the DEA. He said his office consults with the
MBN on special cases.

"(Fisher's) a good man to work with," he said. "They couldn't have
picked a better man."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin