SHERIFF'S VIEWS ON DRUG WAR RING TRUE

Rufe Jordan's 38 years as Gray County sheriff fell a couple of years short
of a state record.

I wrote a few days ago that upon leaving office at the end of 1988 Rufe had
a Texas record for most years as sheriff. Just before stepping down, he had
served longer than anyone else in office at that time.

But I have since been advised that Wallace Riddell served from 1938 to 1978
as sheriff of Burnet County.

After Rufe, another sheriff went past 38 years -- Dan Saunders wore the
badge for Martin County from 1953 through 1992.

Those three fellows all observed and experienced and survived a great many
changes during their long careers. Of course, as mentioned previously,
Rufe's career did not survive the change in drug war tactics.

He opposed bringing in cops from outside to work undercover in his county.
He opposed how they gather information from "snitches." He preferred
working in the open and knew who to call when he needed something.

Rufe's telephone was an amazing law enforcement tool. I remember how he
recaptured a suspect in a killing, a man who'd managed to sneak out of
jail. Rufe called the man's father and told him to bring his son back to
jail first thing next morning. And that's what happened.

But a write-in candidate criticized Rufe for not joining the Panhandle
Regional Narcotics Trafficking Task Force in order to bring in undercover
cops to fight the drug war. Rufe was defeated.

Sheetrock scandal He has since been proven correct many times over, most
notably by the controversial 1999 sting operation that put Tulia in the
national spotlight and resulted in ongoing investigations and lawsuits. And
more recently, by the Sheetrock fiasco in Dallas.

Cops in that town paid a snitch some $200,000 for information used in
dozens of drug busts. But when someone finally got around to analyzing the
drugs that were seized, it turned out that nearly half the supposed cocaine
confiscated was merely crushed Sheetrock. A fourth of the methamphetamine
was gypsum -- a primary component of Sheetrock.

Many bad cases had to be tossed out. Time and money were wasted. There now
are investigations into those botched investigations, and the extent of
political fallout and legal ramifications are yet to be determined.

If Rufe were still alive, I would have called him to discuss Tulia and
Dallas. I would have called him about other matters, too. Two or three
years ago when I tried to count all the different kinds of cops we have
working in Harris County, I would have reported to him what I learned.

The best estimate I could come up with was 12,504 officers in 114 different
agencies from all levels of government in Harris County. I didn't try to
count all the volunteer police and the security guards. Dividing the
county's population by the number of cops, it figures out to about 256.4
men, women and children per officer.

What would Rufe say? A similar ratio when Rufe was sheriff and Gray County
had a population of about 30,000 would have meant 117 deputies, town cops,
state troopers, game wardens ... When I was living there in the '70s, I
doubt if the total was more than two dozen, and they seemed to manage quite
well.

Rufe once told me: "About 90 percent of our people don't even need a
sheriff. The other 10 percent need whatever they can get."

Through the years, I've known and talked with a great many police officers,
chiefs, sheriffs, deputies, federal agents, state troopers, game wardens
... But Rufe was the best at explaining how law enforcement works.

A recent situation that had me remembering this was the deal the city made
to pay a law firm that will buy two police cars and hire five uniformed
cops to work off-duty to find people wanted for unpaid traffic fines.

When I was counting cops, we had about 5,200 at HPD, with only about 2,000
of them working patrol. Why can't we find five to work on-duty to look for
people who owe fines? Why is the city cutting a law firm in on these
collections?

I made several calls but couldn't find anyone at the city or the law firm
who would explain this kind of police work arrangement to me. I don't know
whether Rufe could have, or if he would have found it as mystifying as I do.