STING ARRESTS UP IN 2000

Undercover police made more drug-related arrests last year in northeastern
Michigan, reversing a three-year trend of declines.

The head of the Strike Team Investigative Narcotics Group said the increase
was still within the normal range of activity for the agency.

"We were up significantly from 1999, but overall, for the last 10 years, we
are running about par," said Detective Lt. Mark D. Chapman, STING unit
commander.

Chapman presented STING's 2000 annual activity report on Wednesday to the
Iosco County Board of Commissioners. The report details the agency's
drug-fighting efforts last year in its service area of Arenac, Crawford,
Iosco, Ogemaw, Oscoda and Roscommon counties.

STING no longer provides service to Ogemaw County, where the county's board
of commissioners has opted not to provide local funding for the agency.

Drug investigations and arrests in Ogemaw are the responsibility of the
Ogemaw County Sheriff's Department and the Michigan State Police.

The 2000 STING report shows the agency made 111 arrests in the six-county
area last year, compared to 88 arrests in 1999. There were 124 arrests made
in 1998 and 199 in 1997. Most of the arrests and subsequent criminal
charges in 2000 were for marijuana sales, possession or production.

"The primary drug of choice is overwhelmingly marijuana in this area,"
Chapman said.

But Chapman said STING officers also are seeing more illegal sales of
prescription drugs and finding more illegal drug-making labs set up to
manufacture methamphetamine, a powerful stimulant.

Last year, STING officers arrested 53 people in Arenac County; 34 in
Crawford; 29 in Roscommon; 24 in Iosco; 24 in Ogemaw; 3 in Oscoda and 1
from another county outside the agency's service area. The report does not
track how many arrests resulted in convictions.

The report says the agency confiscated illegal drugs worth an estimated
$647,000 last year, including 624 pounds of marijuana worth about $624,000.

Other drugs included cocaine, methamphetamine and prescription drugs being
sold on the street.

Significant cases handled last year included the arrest of two people in
Iosco County receiving methamphetamine through the mail; an investigation
into marijuana trafficking in Roscommon County that led to the seizure of
25 pounds of the substance in Indiana and a raid on a Crawford County home
where people were using crack cocaine.

STING received about $87,000 from its member counties in 2000 and received
$58,645 from assets gained through drug forfeiture sales. The agency
receives 29 percent of its budget from the state and 37 percent from the
federal government, Chapman said. STING employed eight officers last year
from the Michigan State Police, its member counties and the Michigan
National Guard. Officers are assigned to STING on a rotating basis.

Ogemaw County had assigned one sheriff's department deputy to work with
STING for part of last year, but that is no longer the case, Sheriff Howie
Hanft said. The National Guard also reassigned its officer to Lansing this
year, Chapman said.

Hanft said he supports STING's operations, but the agency's absence hasn't
led to a noticeable increase in drug trafficking in Ogemaw.

"There were drugs here when we had STING, and there are drugs here when
they are not here," Hanft said.

Chapman said drug activity has remained relatively constant in the region,
despite the arrest increase last year and further increase in arrests seen
for the first four months of this year.

"There has always been a significant drug problem in the area, but I don't
think there has been a significant increase. We are at least holding our
own," he said.