LOCAL POLICE GET MONEY FROM DRUG DEALERS TO HELP FIGHT CRIME

Area Police Departments Earned A Little Help In The Form Of Money
Wednesday.

U.S. Attorney Donald Washington announced that the Shreveport Police
Department, Caddo sheriff's office, Bossier sheriff's office and the
Louisiana state police each would receive $53,903.39 for their
participation in a 2002 drug investigation which led to the eventual
seizure of $225,613.56 in assets from drug dealers.

The funds were distributed as part of the U.S. Justice Department's
Asset Forfeiture program. Once the money is seized, the program gives
80 percent back to local law enforcement, Washington said.

The program aims to punish criminals by depriving them of their
property and enhance cooperation between all law enforcement agencies
by sharing the money seized.

Washington said he was glad to "hand out money to the good guys."

The money, as required by law, will be put into an account designated
for narcotics enforcement.

The money was seized after an investigation involving local and state
police and the FBI which brought down a ring of drug distributors in
2002, Washington said.

Matthew Smith Jr., of Atlanta, Ga., was a major distributor of drugs
in Shreveport and was arrested in April 2002, he said.

As part of the guilty plea Smith agreed to, he forfeited two
Atlanta-area homes, which where sold for the profits police saw
Wednesday, Washington said.

"This is a prime example of a cooperative effort between the federal,
state and local (law enforcement)," Shreveport Police Chief Mike
Campbell said. "Today is pay day."