RED RIBBON WEEK: COCAINE REMAINS A CHALLENGE FOR LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT

Collaboration Is Key in Transient Drug Trade

On a frigid Wednesday last January, Benny Jones expected to collect
two freshly delivered kilograms of cocaine when he stepped out of the
cold and into a south Columbus apartment.

What the Phenix City man encountered, however, was a sting operation
involving his own driver, Horace Cromwell, who agreed to facilitate
the setup after he was pulled over with the drugs en route from
Houston. A camera hidden by the feds in Cromwell's apartment captured
footage of the drug deal, according to court documents, and agents
waiting in a back room rushed out to make an arrest once the cocaine
exchanged hands.

Cromwell and Jones pleaded guilty to drug charges this summer in U.S.
District Court and are facing five to 40 years behind bars.
Investigators said the bust prevented a major shipment of cocaine
from making its way to street corners and dark alleys around the
Chattahoochee Valley.

The January sting, orchestrated by federal Drug Enforcement
Administration agents and the Metro Narcotics Task Force, highlighted
the importance of teamwork among law enforcement agencies as they
seek to stem the flow of cocaine into the region. Unlike
methamphetamine -- an increasingly prevalent drug that can be
manufactured locally -- cocaine travels hundreds of miles before it
reaches its destination and is distributed for street sale.

Many participants in the drug trade are as transient as the narcotics
they smuggle, so enforcement hinges upon tight communication and
collaboration on both sides of the Chattahoochee River, authorities say.

"We've got somewhat of a unique area where we live here because the
two cities are so intertwined, and it's two different states,"
Russell County Sheriff Heath Taylor said. "The drug trade doesn't
recognize state lines or county lines. They just go wherever the
doggone money is and wherever they can sell."

This year's National Drug Threat Assessment, compiled by the National
Drug Intelligence Center of the U.S. Department of Justice, shows
cocaine is still widely available throughout the country though at
diminished levels. The feds attribute the decrease to inter-cartel
fighting and "counter-drug activity" that has disrupted cocaine
trafficking from South America.

Federal agencies also seized 30 percent less cocaine in the fiscal
years 2009 and 2010 compared to 2006, the assessment found, a trend
reflected in some local jurisdictions.

"Most of what we come across lately has been methamphetamine and
marijuana," said Sgt. Chad Mann of the Troup County Sheriff's Office.

But interviews with local law enforcement officials suggest cocaine
and crack remain a fixture here despite significant arrests and the
emergence of other popular drugs like methamphetamine.

"There is still lots of coke use in the area with crack and powder
cocaine," Taylor said.

Capt. Gil Slouchick, special operations unit commander with the
Columbus Police Department, said police haven't seen any decrease of
cocaine in recent years.

"Not at our level we haven't," said Slouchick, who's tasked with
combating street- and mid-level drug dealers. "Any way you can bring
anything else into Columbus, Georgia, is how the drugs are coming in here."

Columbus police recently came across a YouTube video filmed at a
local housing project that demonstrated the cooking of cocaine into crack.

"Cocaine is cooked here in Columbus, Georgia. We know that,"
Slouchick said. "We've done search warrants on houses and places
where we've arrested individuals with crack cocaine where they had
been cooking there at the house."

Phenix City police, meanwhile, say they've seen a leveling off in the
cocaine supply over the past three years.

"With meth being able to be produced locally and the ingredients
being available locally, that is by far going to be our No. 1
problem," said Police Chief Ray Smith.

But Smith also attributed the stagnation to some major cocaine
arrests. For instance, the department has made six crack cocaine
distribution arrests so far this year -- three times the total in
2009 -- as well as some sizeable trafficking busts.

"If you make a good lick on a street-level distributor, of course
that disrupts the supply chain for a couple of months until somebody
else comes in and takes his place," Smith said. "Certainly, you want
to explain to people, 'Here's the danger you can get into.' But at
the end of the day, as long as there's a market for it, you're always
going to have somebody who's willing to take the risk to distribute
it -- that's human nature."

Like many local agencies, Phenix City police fight the cocaine trade
on two separate fronts. A joint effort with the Russell County
Sheriff's Office known as the PAIN unit -- Partners Against Illegal
Narcotics -- focuses on the street level.

Those agencies rely on the Metro Narcotics Task Force out of Columbus
to take on the upper-level, bulk shipments, such as the one seized in
January at Cromwell's apartment off St. Marys Road. The Louisiana
State Police -- who stopped Cromwell and a Columbus woman east of
Lake Charles for improper lane usage -- also were to thank for that
bust, authorities said.

"If we did not have the cooperation between all of the agencies in
this area, you would be looking at spending hundreds of thousands of
dollars with everybody looking for the same guy," Taylor said. "You
cut that down, and you've got one responsible drug unit, which is Metro."

Police in Auburn, Ala., combat the drug trade with active patrols and
a narcotics unit of about five specially trained officers. The
department was reminded of the prevalence of cocaine just last week
after a routine traffic stop.

Charles J. Edwards, 45, allegedly tried to flee the scene on foot but
was quickly arrested, police said. Officers searched his car and
allegedly found more than a pound of cocaine, a find Police Chief
Tommy Dawson said is one of the largest in the city's history.

"We were very pleased to remove that amount of cocaine from the
street," Dawson said in a phone interview.

"Normally, when you arrest one, somebody takes their place," he
added. "But it's going to set them back. Losing that amount could put
them out of business."