MIAMI DEA CHIEF RETIRES

MIAMI _ After 27 years with the Drug Enforcement Administration, Bill
Mitchell came to realize that the term ``drug war'' was a misn omer.

Any successes in choking off supply - much of the DEA's job - are difficult
to celebrate when resourceful, ruthless traffickers keep targeting South
Florida, and when demand for drugs continues undiminished, he says.

``We've done a good job, but the anti-drug effort _ it's not really a war _
has never been very consistent,'' said Mitchell. ``Too many hills and
valleys.''

In his last week as head of the DEA's 400-strong army of agents in South
Florida and the Bahamas, Mitchell waxed philosophical about anti-drug
campaigns and compared the DEA's work to that of vigilant troopers
patrolling Florida's Turnpike.

His analogy: troopers catch some bad drivers and deter others, but they
don't stop speeding. They just keep it under control.

``We're basically a deterrent,'' said Mitchell, in his last days on the
job. ``If there were no troopers between here and Orlando, there would be a
lot more speeding.''

After 1- years of his own ``hills and valleys'' heading one of the DEA's
largest field offices, Mitchell, 51, is becoming a vice president of
Corporate Integrity Services, a security and investigative subsidiary of
Holland & Knight.

The company is looking for more business in Latin America and the Caribbean
_ protecting financial transactions, investigating corruption for corporate
clients. It's an ideal challenge for Mitchell, fluent in Spanish, who spent
years with the DEA in Mexico and Puerto Rico.

His contacts will be of great help. During his last full day last week,
Mitchell accepted congratulations from a stream of agents, friends and
visitors _ including a top intelligence officer with Colombia's national
police.

List of credits

Mitchell cites several recent accomplishments for the agency: beefing up
DEA operations in the Bahamas, a favorite route for smuggle rs; increasing
cooperation with local police, even lending agents to the Miami Police;
highlighting the renewed use of the Caribbean and South Florida by
traffickers disillusioned with Mexico _ and adding about 30 agents to meet
that threat.

And the DEA is still growing. This year, it's running full-page recruiting
ads in radio station Hot 105's Rhythm magazine, popular in the
African-American community.

Mitchell's biggest setback was the ``senseless, tragic death'' last year of
DEA agent Shaun Curl, allegedly shot by a drunken agent, Richard Fekete.
Mitchell said DEA supervisors are trying to balance employees' privacy
rights with the need to intervene and counsel any agent with a history of
problems.

Optimism is premature

With more seizures of cocaine and heroin in the region in the last two
years, Mitchell takes pride in DEA and Customs vigilance _ bu t he knows
any optimism is premature. He's seen the surveys showing increased drug
use, particularly by teens, since the early 1990s .

``And more casual users means, in the long run, more hard-core users,''
said Mitchell, who worries that while most Americans give lip service to
anti-drug efforts, they don't regard narcotics use as a dire problem.

In a West Miami-Dade building bristling with antennae, high-tech equipment
and intelligence reports, Mitchell describes what he thin ks may be the
most effective tool in fighting narcotics _ powerful anti-drug spots on TV
and radio.

``I think when they stopped running some of those public service ads in the
early 1990s, people became less aware,'' he said. ``Mayb e parents and kids
just weren't getting the message.''

TV spots have impact

He has hopes that a new $150 million series of anti-drug spots, announced
recently by drug czar Barry McCaffrey, will raise public a wareness and put
a dent in drug use.

Some groups have criticized the ads - in one, a woman on heroin destroys a
kitchen _ as emotional and simplistic. But Mitchell think s a TV spot that
reaches millions of kids may have more impact than other educational
campaigns.

These national efforts aren't abstract to Mitchell. When he talks about
reaching lots of children he also thinks of one - his 10-year-old son in a
South Dade school.

``I try to talk to him about the dangers of drugs in a straight-forward
way,'' he said. And he can add something from personal exper ience: ``The
people who deal in drugs have no regard for human beings.''

(c) 1998, The Miami Herald.