SMARTER POLICING

Chatham County should complete the merger of the Counter Narcotics
Team with the Savannah-Chatham Metro Police Department.

ENVIRONMENTALSTS ENCOURAGE their neighbors to think globally, but act locally.

All elected officials in Chatham County - newly re-elected County
Commission Chairman Pete Liakakis, Savannah Mayor Otis Johnson, the
mayors of the smaller municipalities and every official who's
committed to reducing violent crime - must follow similar advice
when it comes fighting drug crime.

How? By putting the countywide drug squad under the command of the
countywide police department. That's where it belongs if the
community genuinely wants safer streets everywhere, not just in
select neighborhoods.

For the past few months, top elected Chatham County and Savannah
officials have had a gentleman's agreement not to wrap up the latest
police merger agreement, which would extend the pact that expires at
the end of this year, until after the Nov. 4 election.

They apparently didn't want to rock any political boats and make the
waters choppy for incumbents.

Fine. But the election is over. Mr. Liakakis and the three incumbent
commissioners who had opposition (Helen Stone, David Gellatly and
Patrick Farrell) are returning for four more years.

Now it's time for county and city leaders to cement a new agreement
that does at least two things:

Puts the drug squad under the countywide police department, which is
what police experts have recommended so that public resources are
used most effectively.

Protects the smaller municipalities, whose leaders fear that their
drug problems will be ignored in favor of those within Savannah's city limits.

This is a fact: Some 75 percent of the drug crimes and associated
violence in Chatham County occur in Savannah. It follows that the
hammer blow on drug dealing should fall hardest on the city's streets.

Police investigations and enforcement efforts work best when
officers act in concert and when manpower may be speedily employed
where needed. A unified enforcement and drug investigation force can
be expected to act more nimbly than two independent local agencies
that may be acting at cross purposes.

That said, if the county should follow the course of the original
police merger agreement and place the CNT under metro police
jurisdiction, Metro Chief Michael Berkow must assure leaders in the
smaller municipalities that he will think globally. He
must convince them he will address their illegal drug concerns, and
not place them on the back burner.

It's also a matter of equity - the smaller cities dedicate
county-funded officers to the drug squad, too.

As it stands now, unfortunately, the chief who's responsible for law
enforcement over the majority of people and biggest jurisdiction in
Chatham County has zero control over where the drug-fighting weapons
are deployed. That's like making one general responsible for
winning a war, but giving much of the ammo to a different commander.

Meanwhile, those who say that the metro chief has influence because
of his seat on the drug squad's advisory board are fooling
themselves. The metro chief is simply one voice and one vote. He has
the same influence as the chief who oversees the tiny Bloomingdale
police department.

Elected leaders occasionally have to make difficult decisions for
the good of the most people. Putting the countywide drug squad under
the countywide police department is one of them. But it's more
important to be responsible than to be popular.

The rising cost of illicit drugs on the street - reportedly a cause
of recent turf wars - is a testament to the current drug squad's
success at making drugs a scarcer commodity. But the associated rise
in violence calls for even greater cooperation between drug agents
and those who investigate the turf war murders and assaults; not a
reticence to fully join forces.

Metro Chief Michael Berkow must assure leaders of smaller
municipalities that he will address their illegal drug concerns, and
not put them on the back burner.