LAW OFFICERS: WAR ON DRUGS NO SIMPLE MATTER

Drugs and cyber-crimes were two of the hot topics addressed by local
law enforcement officials at Monday evening's monthly Diversity Forum.

Huntsville Police Chief Jean Sanders and Walker County Sheriff Clint
McRae provided basic information on the structures of their
respective departments but also fielded questions from the audience.

McRae was questioned at length about the presence and impact of drugs
inside the county.

The sheriff's office made more than 4,000 arrests this year, an
estimated 50 percent of which McRae said are drug-related offenses.

McRae said none of the offenses are out of the ordinary and actually
mirror most of the crimes experienced in larger cities, just "on a
smaller scale."

Citing a budgeted $69 billion a year for "the war on drugs" and an
increase nationally in drug-related crimes and likening the
illegality of drugs to Prohibition in the 1920s, one attendee asked
McRae how "decreasing the value of drugs" would affect local law
enforcement's ability to do their job.

McRae said it's not as simple as reducing the value of narcotics.

"There are so many other issues that pertain to narcotics in addition
to the profit margin: the way people act, the violent crimes that are
committed," McRae said, inferring the questioner was referring to the
possibility of legalizing some narcotics.

"As to whether or not decreasing the value of drugs would have an
effect on crime ... there is a possibility to a certain percentage.
Is that what we should do? No sir. Not at all."

Sanders also weighed in on the issue, saying that addiction to drugs
is often a more powerful motivator than profit.

"If we could cut down on the individuals who want to buy the drugs
.. that could reduce the value of the drugs and the traffic of
them," she said. "I think we have a better chance of dealing with it
that way: breaking the addiction, education."

And with last week's sex offender trial still fresh on the
community's mind, Sanders was questioned about local efforts to catch
Internet predators.

Sanders said a group of investigators is currently in place with both
the city and county with the capacity to work those types of cases
but the manner of the work can often take a toll on them.

"They are time consuming. Basically you take on a different
personality and are basically another person, usually a young girl,
online. You are putting out hooks and seeing who you can catch," Sanders said.

"But again, it is time consuming and not something they can do full
time. I don't have a detective dedicated solely to cyber-crime. It's
one of those situations where you hit and miss.

"It's when the detectives can find time to do it in between all of
the other cases they are working."

The Diversity Forum's second annual dinner will be held Thursday,
Feb. 8, at the Walker County Fairgrounds.