THE NEED TO FEED THE HABIT ...

Police: Understanding Supply And Demand Key In Battle On Drugs

Editor's note: This is the second story focusing on the Southern Regional
Drug and Violent Crime Task Force, a federally-funded group of specialized
law enforcement officers charged with taking drugs off the streets of Four
Seasons Country. The profile on the task force is part of an ongoing
Princeton Times series titled Dealing with Drugs, focusing on the local
issues of illegal substance abuse and trade, the crimes they often spark
and the ways local authorities and citizens are fighting their presence.

PRINCETON - While the battle to keep illegal drugs off the streets takes
complex turns and dangerous detours, its origin in Four Seasons Country is
as basic as simple laws of marketing and economics, Southern Regional Drug
and Violent Crime Task Force Coordinator J. Centeno said recently.

It's all about supply and demand.

"As long as there's someone who wants to do the drugs, there will be
someone to sell them," Centeno said.

The officers on the task force, currently funded through federal grants and
staffed by local law enforcement agencies, are armed with some of the best
equipment and most intense training available to fight drugs' surge into
the area. The investigators set their sights on disrupting the trade of the
drugs by targeting the suppliers, but until demand disappears, the illicit
enterprises will continue, Centeno said.

"Unfortunately, law enforcement is only equipped to target the suppliers,
not the consumers," he said. "The supply, we can identify. We can target
it, and we can dismantle it. But, the demand, we cannot."

Part of the problem, Centeno said, may be the "politically correct"
attitude many people have adopted toward addiction and drug use. Too many
view addiction as an illness or a soft problem, "when it is actually the
root of the drug problem," he said.

As the situation currently stands, Centeno said every time his officers
arrest one drug dealer, one or more take his or her place almost
immediately because there are consumers in the area willing to pay for the
wares the illegal traders push.

Locally, task force officers have seized marijuana, cocaine, crack and
heroine in 2005, but the drugs of choice are still the prescription
painkillers, Centeno said.

As of last week, investigators had purchased 650 units of OxyContin,
Lortab, hydrocodone, hydromorphone and more in controlled buys, and they
had seized an estimated 1,500 more as part of the 312 investigations opened
up to that point, the coordinator said.

It is a common trend in areas where incomes run slim and "people of low
income feel forced to sell their own prescription medicine for money,"
Centeno said.

While specific locations were not identified, he said the task force is
focusing on several sites of high drug trafficking activity in McDowell and
Mercer counties.

"We have the best type of officers who work in a high-stress and very
demanding job," Centeno said of the six officers from the Bluefield and
Princeton city police departments, West Virginia State Police, and Mercer,
McDowell and Wyoming county sheriff's departments.

Although the covert officers' jurisdiction includes the three counties in
which the task force is operational, Centeno said they are deputized
throughout the state to assist in criminal investigations or track targets.

In order to break up the drug-trading organizations, also referred to as
DTOs, the officers must infiltrate the drug culture, putting themselves in
harm's way and often creating an internal turmoil, Centeno said.

"Inside us, there is always the debate of good vs. evil, right vs. wrong,
and we have to always try to make the right decisions," he said. "In my
mind, I'm always aware, 'Although I have to appear to be a bad guy, I
cannot be a bad guy.'

Plus, the officers constantly must guard against being discovered as
members of law enforcement while conducting the investigations as safely
and quickly as possible.

"We work with the most dysfunctional parts of society," Centeno said.

Task force personnel do engage in controlled drug sales or purchases, but
only with the intent of apprehending a suspect, he emphasized.

To do that, he said the Department of Justice provides money dedicated "to
do nothing but buy or remove drugs," once investigators receive evidence a
person is interested in selling the substances.

Occasionally, the officers are approached by someone interested in
purchasing drugs and open an investigation on the demand side of the trade.
Then, the task force must obtain permission from the Department of Justice
to sell the drugs in a controlled situation, and officers are not allowed
to let the suspect leave the scene or actually ingest the drugs before
making an arrest, Centeno explained.

"We are actually not selling the drugs. We do it with the purpose of
finding the people who want to purchase drugs to sell," he said.

Sometimes, the extent of interaction between the investigators and their
suspects is difficult for local citizens or even family members to
understand or explain.

"I've heard people said that police officers are the ones selling the
drugs. People have told my wife they've seen me doing drugs or hanging out
with drug dealers," he said. "She can't tell them, 'Oh, he's working.'"

Even in situations of controlled buys or sales, Centeno said the task force
and its officers are held strictly accountable to both the federal
departments that fund the organization and the parent agencies that formed it.

"All the operations are reported every month to the Department of Justice
and to a board of directors that scrutinize every operation and expense of
the task force," he said.

Even with the difficulties and hardships, work on a task force that takes
drugs out of distribution is rewarding, Centeno said.

The officers' job is to hold criminals responsible for their illegal acts,
but sometimes the arrests offer a chance to change lives for the better, he
said, especially when very young people are involved.

"Teen Challenge is full of stories that would break your heart," Centeno
said, referring to a local rehabilitation program for young men or teens
addicted to drugs. "Many times, they were waiting for that time, when they
were busted and sent to jail to change."

Occasionally, the officers wait years to see the results of their work, he
added, saying that the work makes sense when he sees someone he arrested
years later, when they look better, have gotten a job or reunited with
their families.

The rewards are also bittersweet at times, Centeno said.

"We see children in a family that are basically trapped. Mommy and Daddy
are heavily involved in drugs and are basically neglecting or abusing the
children," he said. In those cases, investigators are forced to remove the
child from his or her home and family in order to "give the opportunity to
the child to function, not being neglected, not being abused."

"With only six drug task force officers, we can't tend to all the demand
immediately," Centeno said, asking for understanding and assistance from
the public. More officers, funding and support would also help, he said.

"Criticism is good, as long as it's constructive," he said. "We need their
patience. We need their cooperation, but more importantly, we need their
involvement."

He encouraged residents in Mercer, McDowell or Wyoming counties to contact
the drug task force or local authorities to report suspected drug
trafficking. The more information available, the better, Centeno said.

A license plate number, a photo or videotape would also be valuable to any
investigation, he said, but he cautioned citizens to remain out of harm's
way, even while attempting to assist the police or improve a neighborhood.

The drug task force anonymous tip line is 327-DRUGS, and Centeno said
residents may also provide information online through the West Virginia
State Police Tip Line at www.wvstatepolice.com or wvtroopers@wvstatepolice.com.

"Every little bit of information helps," he said.