COUNCIL CONSIDERS FUNDS FOR OFFICERS

Officials May Transfer More Than $100k to the Police Department to
Hire 13 New Officers

The Jackson City Council on Tuesday will consider transferring more
than $100,000 to the police department to hire 13 new officers during
the final months of this fiscal year.

The budget amendments, which spring from recommendations of a city
crime task force, would send five new officers to the city-county
Metro Narcotics Unit.

The task force recommended that unit receive an almost $1 million
total boost in personnel and resources. It was the group's main
proposal for attacking a drug problem city and county law enforcement
officials told task force members was the biggest influence on the
area's crime.

But statistics obtained from the District Attorney General's Office
in Jackson show that the 12-officer unit's individual indictments
have waned since 2003, when a tornado's tear through east and
downtown Jackson touched off a spike in crime.

The unit's drug indictments in Madison County Circuit Court fell
steadily from 133 in fiscal year 2001-2002 to 42 in fiscal year
2005-2006, according to the statistics. Indictments rose to 76 during
fiscal year 2006-2007.

In Tennessee government, the fiscal year begins on July 1 and ends on
June 30 of the following calendar year.

Police credit the lower indictment totals to different bookkeeping,
the larger amount of time needed to build meaningful drug cases, and
an increased concentration on obtaining federal indictments that can
mete out lengthier sentences for dealers and distributors.

"That certainly does not represent all of the work," Jackson Police
Chief Rick Staples said. "They may be investigating a case a couple
of years before it materializes into an indictment."

According to police records, the unit had 85 indictments during
calendar year 2006. In 2007, the unit produced 103 indictments and an
additional 34 federal indictments.

More indictment statistics were not available last week, police and
federal officials said. Police records show the unit took 31 cases to
federal court in 2007 and 13 in 2006.

The drug unit has made at least 200 arrests during each year since
2001 with the exception of 2003, the year of the tornado.

The unit made 1,000 arrests in 2005, many in connection to an upswing
in the theft and illegal sale of prescription drugs, said Jackson
Police Lt. Barry Michael, the unit's commander.

He said that year's arrests and a time-consuming process of verifying
and tracing forged prescriptions could be to blame for the lowered
number of indictments recorded in fiscal year 2005-2006.

The unit arrested 416 in 2007 and 275 in 2006.

Of all its arrests, many result in lower-level charges and fines
worked out in lower courts such as General Sessions and City Court,
Michael said.

Using the Help

Michael said the five additional officers likely would go toward
bulking up the street operations of the unit, not for lengthier
investigative work.

He said the unit wants to focus more on undercover drug buys and
cracking down on street dealers and users.

Right now, the unit has little day-to-day continuity, Michael said.
He said the unit's personnel is often split by duties that vary from
serving on federal anti-drug task forces to speaking to
schoolchildren about the dangers of drug use.

The drug unit also has been involved in an undercover police
operation aimed at busting those who sell alcohol to minors, Staples
said. He said the drug unit was brought into the operation to assist
in the wiring of young informants and surveillance.

"They have the equipment," Staples said.

The unit has a hand in federal drug cases that pass through the
county, Michael said, and reviews or aids investigation of
drug-related incidents handled by city police, the Madison County
Sheriff's Office and other law enforcement agencies in the area.

"Even though it's not directly related to Metro Narcotics, we still
have to play a role in most" drug cases, Michael said. "It's just the
nature of a drug job. It doesn't work like other areas of investigation."

Strong Backing, but Some Questions

The proposed expansion of the unit has at times received the clearest
political support in the often-divisive discussion over the task
force's proposals.

Especially among county officials, who city leaders expect to approve
funding for five additional sheriff's deputies for the drug unit if
the council approves more police funding on Tuesday.

"From what the judges, the police, and the sheriff tells me, much of
our crime is associated with illegal drugs," County Mayor Jimmy
Harris said. "Past that, I think it gets down to opinion."

City and county leaders interviewed this week said they were not
concerned about the unit's Circuit Court indictment numbers. Some
speculated that the unit's manpower and the time needed to build
meatier drug cases influenced the statistics.

"The lack of manpower that we've had is probably a reason that things
have went down," Councilman Johnny Dodd said. "When you're working on
several cases, you're going to have problems."

There were some questions about the unit's effectiveness and setup.
In an e-mail, Councilman Danny Ellis said he would like to see the
drug unit and Jackson police's gang unit merged and unified under one
commander.

"Many times I see these two organizations' efforts overlap," Ellis
said. "This (unified) supervisor either produces results or we find
someone else who can. After this reorganization takes place, then I
would like to look at increasing the funding."

Staples said a management revamp of the unit could come since the
department is in the early stages of a two-month review of its operations.

But he said the new drug officers are needed immediately.

"More people will make a big difference," Staples said.

Other Additional Police

The department will look for experienced officers when making the
drug unit hires, most of which officials hope will be made by April,
Staples said. The new drug officers are expected to join the unit
this summer after receiving training.

In addition to the five drug officers, the council will consider
approving the hire of two new officers for targeted patrols of
troubled neighborhoods and another six for a city traffic unit.

The total cost of the 13 new officers and additional equipment during
this fiscal year will be $600,000, Staples said. About $139,000 of
that total will be added to the police department's budget if the
council approves the hires.

About half of the funds will come from already budgeted police money
for equipment such as an emergency generator, a special vehicle and
pistols and radios for patrolling potential annexations, Staples said.

Another $150,000 of the cost will be paid for by police drug capital
not related to the drug unit, he said.

This week's proposed hires do not include more personnel for the
city's gang unit or additional resource officers for the
Jackson-Madison County School System, other boosts recommended by the
task force.

Staples said the holdoff on those jobs is, in part, to research
whether they can be covered by federal grant funds.

But Jackson Mayor Jerry Gist said the city likely will wait until
summer to address funding for resource officers. City and county
officials have questioned whether the officers are needed.

Superintendent Nancy Zambito has said there is evidence that they are
needed in recent incidents where students have been caught with guns
on school campuses.

Authorities have confiscated five guns - in three separate incidents
- - at the system's high schools.

The members of the city's Safe Neighborhood Task Force, of which
Zambito is a member, recently gave top priority to putting officers
in the system's four middle and five high schools.

The task force recommendation includes placing one officer at each
middle school and two officers at each of four high schools - Jackson
Central-Merry, Liberty, North Side and South Side. One officer would
be placed at Madison Academic Magnet High, for a total of 13 officers
in the middle and high schools.