POLICE CROSS COUNTY LINES TO TACKLE COCAINE

STERLING - From a secure location, an undercover officer peered
through binoculars, looking for movement at a house on a busy
Sterling street, well known to police.

Dressed in torn blue jeans, the Black Hawk Area Drug Task Force
officer barked his observations into a pair of cell phones, one in
each hand. On the other end were police from Sterling, Rock Falls,
the Whiteside County Sheriff's Department and the Illinois State
Police - a total of 17 officers - taking part in a joint drug operation.

Recent drug activity and related violence in Sterling and Rock Falls
- - stabbings, shootings and two homicides - led to the joint
operation. The collaborative effort represents a growing trend among
Sauk Valley law enforcement who, now more than ever, are sharing
intelligence, equipment and personnel in the battle against the
illegal drug epidemic.

"It's my opinion - and I think the other agency heads would echo this
- - that cooperation in Whiteside County has never been better," said
Master Sgt. John Biffany of the Illinois State Police.

Biffany leads the Black Hawk Area Task Force, a unit that
specifically fights the drug trade in Carroll, Henry, Lee, Ogle and
Whiteside counties.

"I've been on the state police for 18 years, and it has never been
better than it is right now," he said.

In the past, agencies sometimes duplicated efforts - for example,
both Sterling police and Illinois State police would build a criminal
case against the same suspect.

"Those days are gone," Biffany said. These days, area police
departments are in constant communication.

Dixon police have been in contact with Sterling officers about 20
times in the last six months when investigations crossed county
lines, Dixon Detective Sgt. Dan Langloss said.

"The (dealers) living in their area are affecting our area," Langloss
said. "There's always been a decent relationship, but we're
definitely working closer now than we ever have."

Lee County State's Attorney Paul Whitcombe, Dixon, Amboy and Franklin
Grove police and the Lee County Sheriff's Department formed the Lee
County Organized Crime Task Force to share intelligence on known and
suspected gang members and their activities, and to coordinate law
enforcement resources to keep gangs out of the area.

Their efforts already are showing results. Take Jay "Blanco"
Randolph, 25, of Franklin Grove, whom police said they suspected of
supplying cocaine to area youth. The task force worked together to
get him off the street, by establishing a case based on the theft of
a video game. Twenty-two days after his arrest, Randolph pleaded
guilty and began serving a two-year prison sentence.

Many agencies also are putting more resources into fighting the drug
trade. Whiteside County Sheriff Roger Schipper said deputies are
putting extra emphasis on conducting drug busts with the help of informants.

Those operations are nothing new to many local police. As head of
Sterling's detective division, Sgt. Doug Fargher said his officers
are up to their necks in drug investigations, which led to nearly 40
people being arrested in Whiteside County last year for dealing or
intending to deal cocaine.

That doesn't include those arrested for possession of cocaine, or
investigations into other drugs, such as marijuana.

"We could do more if we could keep up with paperwork," Fargher said.

About two years ago, Fargher made the executive decision to pull
detectives off cases involving bad checks or credit card fraud.
Although addicts are likely to commit such crimes to fund their drug
habit, Fargher found that investigating them took to much time away
from drug investigations.

Such fraud cases are now handled by patrol officers, but even they
have limited time, Fargher said.

Whiteside County State's Attorney Gary Spencer estimates 90 percent
of all the criminal cases he prosecutes have drug addiction as their
root cause.

Sterling Police Chief Ron Pothoff said his department, too, has
decided to focus its efforts on the drug trade, and make it as
"unpleasant and unprofitable for the dealers to set up shop."

"We can trace symptoms of crime, or go right after the drug dealers,"
Fargher said.