OFFICERS' GROUP HONORS LOCAL DRUG TASK FORCE

COMET named unit of the year for its felony arrests, work against meth
labs.

Last year, they busted more than 100 methamphetamine labs, made more
than 300 felony arrests and seized 300-plus firearms.

And last week, they were named Law Enforcement Unit of the Year by the
Missouri Narcotics Officers' Association.

They are the nine officers assigned to the Combined Ozarks
Multi-Jurisdictional Enforcement Team, or COMET for short.

The anti-drug task force serves seven counties in southwest Missouri
- -- including Greene and Christian -- and its focus has increasingly
shifted toward the region's meth epidemic since forming in 1993.

The statewide award is the task force's first, but it wasn't easy to
come by.

"This year was some of the toughest competition I've ever seen," said
MNOA President Frank Till.

Six units were nominated for the award, but COMET emerged the winner
after a committee of its law enforcement peers tallied the scores,
Till said.

"We want to see officers and units make a difference," he added. "We
want to see them changing, educating, the whole nine yards."

Since he took charge of COMET in February 2004, supervisor Lt. Steve
Dalton said he has worked to improve communication between
law-enforcement agencies and to better educate the public about the
dangers of illegal drugs.

Christian County Sheriff Mike Robertson, who sits on COMET's board,
said his department has worked closely with the task force to curb the
county's growing number of labs.

"They make a lot of undercover buys and they assist every department
. in cleaning up the meth labs those departments discover,"
Robertson said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Dave Rush said the award was "long overdue"
for a force playing a vital role in breaking up large drug-trafficking
rings.

"The significant people we've prosecuted with COMET's assistance has
been phenomenal," Rush said.