Pubdate: Wed, 19 Jan 2000
Source: Arizona Republic (AZ)
Copyright: 2000, The Arizona Republic.
Contact: Opinions@pni.com
Website: http://www.azcentral.com/news/
Forum: http://www.azcentral.com/pni-bin/WebX?azc
Author: Brent Whiting The Arizona Republic

PHOENIX FORCE TO TARGET DRUG-RELATED SLAYINGS

Phoenix officials, hoping to reduce homicides by 30 percent in 30
months, took aim Tuesday at drug traffickers who use murder to settle
debts and disrupt competition.

Mayor Skip Rimsza and Police Chief Harold Hurtt announced the creation
of the Homicide Drug Task Force 30/30, which will target illegal drugs
and violent drug offenders.

The task force, which has an expected launch date of Feb. 1, is to be
modeled on a federal-local effort credited with cutting Miami's murder
rate by nearly half.

It will be similar to Phoenix initiatives that have put a crimp in
gangs, graffiti and domestic violence, Rimsza told a City Hall news
conference.

Hurtt said the announcement of the program just happens to coincide
with an eight-part series in The Arizona Republic that illustrates the
extent of Arizona's drug problems.

"In the past few years, Phoenix has become a major drug distribution
center for the entire nation," Hurtt said. "Intelligence and recent
investigation have shown that the drug traffic routes through Phoenix
connect with every part of the country, almost."

He offered statistics showing how drugs have affected the escalating
homicide rate: In 1990, there were 141 homicides in Phoenix, 19 of
which were related to narcotics. In 1999, there were 235 homicides, a
67 percent increase. Of the 235, 37 can be blamed on drugs, an
increase of 95 percent over nine years.

City Councilman Dave Siebert, chairman of a council subcommittee on
public safety, called the numbers unacceptable.

"We think we can make a major difference," Siebert said. "The future
of this community depends upon it."

The task force will have three supervisors as well as 12 Phoenix
police homicide, drug and organized-crime investigators, and four
federal agents and two crime analysts, who will coordinate
intelligence.

The City Council has not yet approved the initiative's estimated
start-up cost of nearly $300,000, but Rimsza predicted smooth sailing
on that issue.

The task force is to be modeled after Redrum, "murder" spelled
backward, which was launched by an elite federal-local homicide squad
in Miami after an explosion of drug-related violence in the early 1990s.

Through the effort, Miami's murder count went from more than 300 a
year to fewer than 175 in 1998, a decrease of more than 45 percent,
according to Phoenix police.

The pressure on drug traffickers, especially those belonging to
Colombian cartels, became so great that they had to forge alliances
with Mexican drug kingpins and find new routes of import across
Southwestern borders.

Police Chief Hurtt said Phoenix now has problems.

"Local criminals use home invasion and murder to profit from drug
proceeds," he said. "Robbers are committed to steal drug proceeds and
finance personal drug habits."

Reach the reporter at Brent.Whiting@ArizonaRepublic.com or (602)
444-7119.