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DEPUTY OBSERVES LOCAL DRUG COURT PARTICIPANTS' ACTIONS

Talking participants through the canning process and providing tips on gaining employment is all in a night's work for Bartow County Sheriff's Office Deputy George Angel, who keeps tabs on local drug court participants, making sure they are home by curfew and ensuring they are holding down jobs.  That's an important function, according to Superior Court Judge Scott Smith, who presides over Cherokee Judicial Circuit Drug Court, which formed more than one year ago and now has 56 participants.

"George's job is probably one of the most important elements next to the treatment phase in drug court because without George out there enforcing that which I require people to do in the courtroom there really is no meat behind what I say," Smith said.  "In other words, there's no way for me to ensure that people are going to take me seriously and do the things that I asked them or require them to do unless there's somebody out there in force making sure they're abiding by the curfews, staying where they're supposed to and don't have any drugs or alcohol in their homes.  Without his presence and them knowing he is going to be there regularly and randomly, this would not have any teeth in it."

The U.S.  Army veteran, who was an artilleryman in Korea and now also heads up security in Smith's courtroom, said the program, which has been funded mainly through grants and will become a tax-free, charitable organization accepting contributions, "is one of the best things that's happened in [Bartow] County.

"You've got these people that have been on drugs, some of them 15 or 20 years.  They've finally had enough, but can't get any rehabilitation unless they go to jail," Angel said.  "If they get a job and start bettering themselves, become good citizens and contribute to society, that's what we care about ...  [This program] has given these people more self respect, they are reuniting with their families they had lost during their drug days, they're getting back with their children, getting jobs and actually working for a living and being more responsible.

"When these people get out and be productive citizens in Bartow County, it's going to help everybody in the county.  Everything [we do] has a purpose.  If they have a job, they're not stealing, they're not breaking into houses or shoplifting."

Angel, a Rhode Island native who has been in Georgia for 33 years, conducts surveillance on drug court participants, which at times includes spot drug testing and searching homes.

"George is a perfect match for this job because he is intimidating, in a way, because he's a big deputy, but he really has a heart for these people and is trying to participate in this program," Smith said.  "I believe he really believes in it and really wants to see these people succeed.  He does not like having to do the things he has to do sometimes, like arrest them and punish them and things like that, but that's part of it because it's really a tough love program because if you don't have the tough you can't make sure that these people succeed.

"He is a person who genuinely cares about people, but also a person who's not going to be intimated and he's not going to fall for somebody's games.  He's not going to fall for a lot of tricks.  A lot of addicts, their mode of getting away with what they've done is to lie and to scheme and George is not going to give in to those things.  He's going to ask the right questions and stand on what he needs to."

The father and grandfather, who said law enforcement is where he belongs, is responsible for observing the activities of 35 people in Bartow County.  Gordon County residents also participate in the circuit-wide program.

"I really do like helping people and always have," he said.  "I always wanted to be a police officer since I was little kid.  I wanted to be a detective."