RURAL POLICE LEARN WAYS OF DRUG TASK FORCES DUE TO CUTS

After feeling the effects of federal budget cuts for drug task forces,
the sheriff of Sevier County says rural law enforcement is having to
reorganize and learn the techniques of "Mexican drug
trafficking."

"We are now witnessing a new trend that is developing with the influx
of ‘ice,' a methamphetamine from Mexico. This has caused a rise
in property crime that we have been experiencing in Sevier County and
across the region," said Sheriff John Partain.

The reason for the invasion of ice is twofold, he said.

"One being our drug addicts can't make their own meth so they are
having to steal to purchase this new product ‘ice.' The ice is
really just a purer form of meth, mainly manufactured in Mexico," he
said. "It's flooding our drug market from Mexico to replace the home
labs. We still have meth labs, but not in the epidemic proportions we
had from 1998 to 2003."

Partain gave a brief history of the development of meth labs during
the peak period of the home-grown labs.

From 1993 to 1998, the Sevier County Sheriff's Office seized only
five meth labs.

From 1998 to July 2006, the sheriff's office seized 63 meth labs and
made 79 arrests for manufacture of meth.

"In 2004 we started seeing a decline in the meth lab seizures," he
said of the year when investigators seized seven meth labs. Then in
2005, the department seized four meth labs. So far this year, the
department has seized only one meth lab.

"The two main factors influencing this decline has been enforcement
and the law that was passed by the Arkansas state legislature that
restricted the sale of pseudoephedrine," said Partain.

"The two main factors influencing this decline has been enforcement
and the law that was passed by the Arkansas state legislature that
restricted the sale of pseudoephedrine," said Partain.

Now, with the change in the drug marketplace, he said law enforcement
will have to reorganize to counter the reduction in agents working
with the drug task forces.

"The drug task force funding cuts will hurt our efforts to curb this
new trend," said Partain.

The South Central Drug Task Force that served Sevier County received a
federal budget cut for 2006-07 amounting to $134,353. The state also
cut the funding by $26,870.

Before the budget cuts, the South Central Drug Task Force had seven
undercover agents, or one agent per county. The task force covered
Sevier, Howard, Little River, Pike, Hempstead, Nevada and Lafayette
counties.

"We now have only two agents covering the seven counties," he
said.

"The drug task forces were formed in an effort to pool resources with
rural law enforcement agencies to combat the rise in methamphetamine
in the late 1980s. The drug task forces were not designed to work
independently, but jointly with these agencies," said Partain.

With the staff reduction, rural law enforcement is having to
reorganize.

"Currently, I'm sending officers to a new school called ‘Mexican
Drug Trafficking,'" he said.

His agency is sending two deputies, one drug task force agent, and the
City of De Queen is sending two officers in September for training.
"This new training will aid in our efforts to better understand this
new drug market, and formulate a new protocol for eradicating this
drug problem," he said.