2 DRUG TASK FORCES SHUT DOWN OVER FUNDING

Two drug task forces in the state will be shut down because of cuts
in a federal grant program.

Law enforcement representatives for the eight-county North Central
Narcotics Task Force and the Metro Narcotics Unit in DeSoto County
received word this week that they had lost their funding. At least
six employees of the North Central Narcotics Task Force will be
left without a job.

"We kind of knew it was eventually going to come," said DeSoto
County Sheriff's Department spokesman Chief Steve Atkinson. "We
didn't know it was going to be this year."

Charlie Jackson, who heads the Mississippi Department of Safety's
planning division, said the federal program that funds the state's
14 narcotics task forces has cut grants to the state by more than 60
percent since 2003.

Mississippi received a little more than $2 million for the fiscal
year that began Oct. 1 - down from $5.3 million in 2003.

The funding cuts have come as more federal dollars have been shifted
toward homeland security needs.

A committee of law enforcement officials made decisions on the
program cuts. Committee members included Mississippi Bureau of
Narcotics Director Marshall Fisher, Vicksburg Police Chief Tommy
Moffett, Oktibbeha County Sheriff Dolph Bryan, Lucedale Police Chief
Darrell Brewer and Oxford Police Chief Steve Bramlett.

The committee made its funding judgments based on a variety of
measurements, including how many people were being arrested and
convicted as a result of the task forces. "They did the best they
could based on the information we had," said Joyce Word, DPS manager
for the grant program.

But Holmes County Sheriff Willie March said he does not agree with
the cuts. His county is part of the North Central Narcotics Task
Force, along with Claiborne, Grenada, Humphreys, Leflore, Tunica,
Yazoo and Coahoma counties.

March said officials representing the state's drug task forces were
told they had to cut 25 percent from their budgets to survive.

"We did that," he said. "I'm not happy at all about this decision."

March said he doesn't buy the argument that the cuts were based on
performance. "They would have to close the Bureau of Narcotics. They
haven't made one case in Holmes County," he said.

March said he believes the North Central Narcotics Task Force leads
the state in convictions, if for no other reason than it is the
largest task force in the state. March, who has protested the cuts
to Sen. Thad Cochran and 2nd District Rep. Bennie Thompson, said he
plans to ask for a hearing with the department to challenge the cuts.

Atkinson said the Metro Narcotics Unit, a cooperative venture with
the Hernando Police Department, has been around for about 14 years.
It's eight undercover investigators have been largely funded with
federal grant dollars.

Atkinson said the county will continue its fight against narcotics
trafficking, just not through the task force. "We're prepared to
handle it and keep on going," he said. "By not getting the funding,
we're not going to give up."

Word said the state is not giving up either and will try to get more
money next year. The money to fund the task forces "has been a
blessing, to say the least," she said.

Jackson said the state has been lucky to get the federal money for
so long. The grant program, which requires local governments to
match one dollar for every four federal dollars, has been funding
some of the task forces for more than two decades, he said.

"It was set up to be a five-year program, then the program would
become self-sustaining," he said. "These kind of cuts would have
happened a few years ago except a couple of task forces voluntarily withdrew."