OFFICIALS JOIN TO FORM BIG DRUG TASK FORCE

Marion County, Designated A High-Intensity Area For Drug Trafficking,
Will Receive A Federal Grant For The Group

SALEM -- State, federal and local officials are forming the largest
task force in the state, involving 18 public safety agencies and 40
officers, to respond to increasing drug abuse and drug trafficking in
Marion County.

Marion County is one of three counties in Oregon designated by the
federal government in 1999 as a "high-intensity drug trafficking
area." The others are Deschutes and Jackson counties, and the state
soon will ask that six more counties receive the designation,
according to Charles Karl, who administers the program.

The designation brings federal grants, in Marion County's case about
$100,000 this year, to be used by the new task force for everything
from officer overtime to equipment. The federal program was among the
catalysts for creating the task force, since grants through the agency
require multiagency teams.

Marion County received the designation partly because of its drug
problems and lack of resources to deal with them and also its central
location in the state and along Interstate 5.

In announcing the group's formation, police underscored the growing
problem throughout Oregon of illegal drug use.

While alcohol abuse has declined since 1995, illegal drug abuse has
increased by 232 percent statewide, according to a state Department of
Human Services survey.

Law enforcement officials in Marion County say that half of all
murders and aggravated assaults are narcotics-related, as well as 70
percent of burglaries and 75 percent of robberies. The county's per
capita rate of property crimes is nearly 2 percentage points above the
state average.

The new Marion County Area Gang and Narcotics Enforcement Team will
bring local, state and federal agencies together to try to break up
drug-dealing organizations rather than make a drug bust here or a drug
arrest there.

Although it relies on existing funds and staff, officials said that
better coordination will help them avoid cases where more than one
agency is investigating the same suspect, provide help to small
agencies that lack the ability to track mobile suspects and give
everybody a bigger picture of drug trafficking in the county.

Even as the group announced its formation Friday, Marion County
District Attorney Dale Penn worried about the impact if voters approve
Measure 3 on the Nov. 7 ballot.

The measure would prohibit police from using the proceeds from
property forfeited by criminals for enforcing laws, requiring the
money instead to be spent on drug treatment. Penn estimated that money
raised from cash or property involved in crime pays from a fifth to a
quarter of interagency task forces such as this one.