AFTER MEG DISBANDS, THEN WHAT?

Before they turn off the lights on the Cook County Metropolitan Enforcement
Group, or MEG, area law enforcement brass need to answer one question: Are
there sufficient drug-busting programs in place to take MEG's place?

If so, no tears need be shed. But if it turns out that drug enforcement
efforts in northeastern Illinois are being shaped more by the availability
of funding than by actual conditions on the street, there's still time to
reconsider.

Reliable funding has been a problem since MEG was created in 1971, the
first of 10 such units to be formed throughout Illinois. The idea was to
combine state, county and municipal police officers in a single tactical
unit that could go anywhere to apprehend drug dealers. Emphasis was placed
on undercover buys from street-level dealers--hardly the glamor front in
the war on drugs, but one appreciated by communities with street corners
and apartment complexes commandeered by dope-dealing punks.

MEG is dying of several causes, one being competition from better-funded
federal drug enforcement units that also team with local police
departments. Aimed at targets higher in the distribution chain, these task
forces are flush with funds confiscated from convicted smugglers and
wholesalers. Working with a federal Customs or Drug Enforcement
Administration team means more bang for the buck, many police chiefs say.
As for street busts, the Cook County sheriff's police now outperforms MEG,
and local police departments, as they become more narco-savvy, have been
doing more on their own.

So support for MEG has dwindled, with only 11 municipalities contributing
money and manpower compared to more than 30 at the agency's zenith. The
death blow may have been delivered earlier this month by the Illinois State
Police, which decided to pull its 10 officers--half MEG's remaining
force--by year's end.

One would think the state's decision could have waited until George Ryan,
the incoming governor, had a chance to appraise the situation. Both Ryan
and Cook County Sheriff Michael Sheahan need to make sure MEG's demise does
not leave some communities--especially those lacking the wherewithal to go
it alone--at the mercy of drug thugs.

Cook County chiefs of police are being called to meet after the holidays to
decide MEG's fate. Before voting to disband, there should be a plan in
place to pick up any slack.

Checked-by: Richard Lake