CITIZENS' POLICE ACADEMY HEARS ABOUT DRUG-CRIME

SHELBY -- Probation, courts and narcotics were the topics of conversation
during Thursday's Citizens Police Academy class, hosted by the Shelby
Police Department. Tracy Royster, of the Division of Community Corrections,
discussed the individuals on probation in Cleveland County, which she
numbered at 1,439.

Ninety-eight of those, Royster said, were probation absconders whose
locations are not known.

She said there are 43 sex offenders in the county, one of whom is equipped
with a GPS bracelet that he will wear for life.

"That is a population that we watch and monitor closely," she said of sex
offenders. District Attorney Rick Shaffer discussed the court system and
the number of cases that go through the local courts each year.

Shaffer said the limited jail space and time set aside for trials each year
plays a major part in determining whether a case will go to trial or
whether the accused would face a plea bargain instead.

"There are well over 2,000 cases pending" in district and superior court,
he said. Shelby Police Lt. Tim Walker discussed the drugs that are
prevalent in Shelby. Walker said there are only four narcotics detectives
that work drug cases and added 80 percent of crime in Shelby is drug related.

To acquire harsher penalties for habitual drug felons, he said - when the
opportunity is there - local drug cases are sent to federal court.

"Very rarely will the federal government take a case unless it's a slam
dunk," he said. "We have not had any problems getting convictions." Walker
said he and his detectives often use paid informants to help them catch
drug distributors and then showed video from a local drug buy in which an
informant purchased crack cocaine from a dealer. Because the actual
transaction was not caught on film, he said, a jury did not convict the dealer.