DRUG TASK FORCE IS REORGANIZING

Liability insurance, director, part-time staff lost by unit

RICHMOND, Mo. - The North Central Drug Task Force is scrambling to
reorganize after losing its liability insurance, its director, its
part-time staff and one of its counties.

The good news is, in the midst of the upheaval, it's received notice of a
$110,000 federal grant.

The force provides support and intelligence to its member agencies and
deals with disposal of drugs and chemicals. It covers Ray, Carroll,
Chariton, Livingston, Howard and Saline counties. Last month, Grundy County
dropped out.

"The insurance was canceled," Grundy County Sheriff Greg Coon said. "When
we found out we'd been operating without insurance for some time, we both
resigned, myself and the Trenton, Mo., police chief.

"I felt like that information had to be pried loose. After numerous
questions, it was, 'Oh, yeah, you aren't covered.' I said, 'I quit.'"

The task force had been paying $1,200 a year in insurance premiums to cover
its members - until the insurance company abruptly withdrew its coverage,
task force board chairman Doug Porter said. The next closest bid was $14,000.

"I knew they were going to pull it (the insurance)," said Mr. Porter, who
is the Richmond, Mo., police chief. "We were kind of on track to getting
the problem solved when they did it. So we just started doing everything
through the appropriate agency (sheriff or police agency). The local law
enforcement did the work. We were just in there to assist them. During that
time, we didn't try to do any high-risk things like undercover work or
buying drugs."

The task force operated without insurance for about three weeks, members
said. The solution, Mr. Porter said, was to drop the force's five part-time
staff members, who had no other insurance coverage. Then the four full-time
staff members were returned to the respective departments they had come
from. Those officers still work within the task force, but under the
individual departments' insurance umbrellas. The various police and
sheriffs' departments are then reimbursed by the task force for any
expenses incurred.

On the heels of the discovery that the force was operating without
insurance, director Robyn Spangler resigned.

"I think the insurance snafu was a factor, but certainly not the only
factor," Mr. Porter said. "I think she was getting tired of fighting it,
trying to balance the grants, all the paperwork as well as all the cases.
This is our second director. This is a position that burns them out after a
few years."

Ms. Spangler had been with the force for two years. She could not be
reached for comment. The board is now looking for a new director.

"I believe we can better utilize the task force with the right person
running it," Livingston County Sheriff Steve Cox said. "I'm asking we find
someone more highly motivated."

The $110,000 grant will come from a plan U.S. Sen. Jean Carnahan, D- Mo.,
pushed through the Senate. Her plan will distribute $1.1 million to the
Missouri Drug Eradication Initiative. No date has yet been released for the
funds' arrival. The money is to be used to hire two additional task force
officers along with equipment.

"I think with not using the part-time people we're going to have to rethink
some things," Mr. Porter said. "We're hoping to rework our budget to hire
one more full-timer now. We've got a lot of area to cover. How that wall
will shake down we'll have to wait and see. We'll have to see what the new
director would like to do."

And what about Grundy County and Trenton?

"We'd certainly welcome them back," Mr. Porter said.

"We haven't heard a peep," Mr. Coon said. "I hate it, because the task
force did good work for us in the past. Possibly we may find some money for
someone of our own. We're off the beaten track up here. It was an hour and
a half for them to get here. So we're looking into other avenues. We need
people who can concentrate on our drug problem."