DRUG SQUAD DELIBERATIONS

The rise in Savannah's murder rate over the last three years has
understandably alarmed many local officials, just as it has the people who
live here. But such concern must not lead to rash decisions or desperate
measures.

County Manager Russ Abolt suggested this week that representatives from
local governments sit down together and talk about the effectiveness and
the future of the Savannah-Chatham Counter Narcotics Team. It's a good idea
and one that Chatham County Commission Chairman Billy Hair and Savannah
Mayor Floyd Adams Jr. should support.

Last week, Mr. Adams said he favors pulling the Savannah Police Department
out of the countywide drug squad, suggesting that the city could do a more
effective job on its own.

The mayor has not made a convincing case for such a move at this point.
Still, Mr. Abolt is wise to want to hit this issue head on. Illegal drugs
are behind much of the violence on the streets. Any significant change in
the drug squad -- the community's single largest weapon in the war on drugs
- -- should be the result of serious deliberation, not political reflex.

Mr. Adams said he has already asked City Manager Michael Brown to come up
with an action plan to combat crime. But the mayor, who was not a supporter
of the drug squad when it was created, is leaning toward the pullout of the
city's 15 police officers assigned to the special unit.

The mayor hasn't mentioned his proposal to Acting Police Chief Dan
Reynolds, nor has he discussed his concerns over the drug squad with its
commander, Steve Smith, or with Mr. Abolt. So Mr. Abolt, in a speech to the
Kiwanis Club, suggested that the mayor and other officials involved in the
CNT get together and talk about any problems.

That's only fair. If the mayor has problems with the drug force, he needs
to let Mr. Smith and Mr. Abolt know what they are. Maybe they can be
corrected. If not, and these problems are seriously eroding public safety
in some city neighborhoods, then the city should pull out.

The city, though, can't afford to take a shortsighted approach. Drug
dealers and the organizations they work for aren't limited by geography.
Neither are their customers.

As the drug squad's commander said this week, "Drug dealers don't stop at
the boundary of the City of Savannah -- they expand across municipal
boundaries." Those drugs don't just appear on the city's street corners;
they come in by air, by sea and via Interstate 95. It takes the
consolidated efforts of area law enforcement agencies to make a dent in
this trade.

Mr. Adams' concern is that while the CNT goes after the bigger dealers who
operate in the shadows, too many street dealers are visibly doing business.
Their presence is a menace. Their brazen actions give the impression that
little is being done to get them off the streets.

Such fear is well-grounded. But law enforcement agencies should coordinate
efforts, not go their separate ways. They should target both the bigger
dealers and the street dealers. Such coordination was seen Wednesday, when
officers from CNT and the Savannah Police Department joined with parole
officers to arrest 10 people in an outstanding warrants sweep.

Each week, CNT and the Savannah Police Department sit down to talk about
joint operations and how to battle drug dealers. If police officers can do
this, why can't the politicians?

Local municipal leaders need to sit down with Mr. Abolt and Mr. Smith and
see how the drug squad is measuring up. And they should be candid.

Mr. Adams should be more specific about what he does not like about the
unit and what Savannah police could do better. Drug squad supporters should
go beyond the numbers and their impressive conviction rates and discuss the
real bottom line -- safer neighborhoods.