PLANS TO REVIVE DRUG UNIT EMERGE

Police Chief Wants Group To Have Local, State, Federal Officers

The Jackson Police and Hinds County Sheriff's departments plan to revive a
joint drug unit.

"I think drugs are the most serious crime problem we have," Hinds County
Sheriff Malcolm McMillin said. "It fuels all the other crimes."

Nationally, about 138,000 inmates reported in 1998 they were on drugs when
they committed their crimes, according to a 2003 report by the Washington,
D.C.-based Office of National Drug Policy Control.

Jackson Police Chief Robert Moore, who proposed a new drug unit, wants the
unit to have local, state and federal officers.

"Our jurisdiction stops at the city limits," Moore said. "Drug dealers don't
stop there. We have to have the capacity of going beyond our limits, our
boundaries, if we are going to be successful."

The most effective way for law enforcement agencies to fight drug
traffickers is to pool resources and manpower and share intelligence
information, said Larry Iles, a former Jackson police officer and Hinds
County deputy who oversaw the previous drug unit.

"Too many times, local law enforcement has difficulty undertaking an
investigation because of a lack of manpower," said Iles, chief of security
at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

But interagency squabbling has prevented law enforcement from sustaining a
united front in the war on drugs. The previous drug unit formed in 1995 was
disbanded after police officials raised concern the unit was developing more
cases in the county than in the city, said former Hinds County deputy Larry
Iles, who oversaw the old drug enforcement unit.

Also, some agencies asked to participate this time have decided not to get
involved for various reasons.

"I can't effectively operate by committee," Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics
Director Frank Melton said. "If we have a drug task force, it's only natural
we direct that task force. I respect Chief Moore, but I don't have time for
politics."

Moore said he has recommended the unit rotate its leadership every year,
with Jackson police getting the first shot at directing the group.

Officials from the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration would not comment
on whether they would participate.

But McMillin said the FBI has said it's out because its mission shifted to
combatting terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks.

McMillin said the DEA will provide assistance to the drug unit on an
as-needed basis.

Jim Hawkins, who oversees Mississippi's High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area
task force in Rankin County, said the unit is needed and can be successful.

His task force, a federally funded program, is providing $246,000 to get the
drug unit started, Hawkins said. Another $256,000 could be available for the
group next year, Hawkins said.