UNICOI SHERIFF RESISTS PRESSURE TO REJOIN AREA DRUG TASK FORCE

ERWIN -- Despite indirect lobbying from the new director of the 1st
Judicial District Drug Task Force, Unicoi County Sheriff Kent Harris
said Wednesday that he will not rejoin the agency. Unicoi County has
not taken part in the DTF since Harris took office in 2002, and the
sheriff believes his department would be wise to stay on its own
course with drug enforcement. Harris said he will not close the border
to Unicoi County to DTF agents who might need to come here to work on
a case, but he said a cost-benefit analysis does not weigh in favor of
becoming a member of that organization again.

New DTF Director Richy Walker, a Johnson City police officer, said
Wednesday that he plans in the next couple of weeks to convince the
sheriff to change his mind. At the moment, the DTF works in Carter,
Johnson and Washington counties, and Walker would like the original
composition, which included Unicoi County, to be back in place.

According to Harris, Unicoi County would have to pay $5,000 to become
a DTF member and would have to share half the money it collects from
drug arrests, even if a non-drug officer handles the case. Under the
arrangement, the sheriff's department would send at least one officer
to DTF, and that employee would be able to work anywhere in the 1st
District. Harris believes the mission of the task force should be
focused on overall drug networks that flow between the counties. The
police departments and sheriff's departments should have their own
drug forces that take care of the traditional street deal, he said.

He praised Walker, saying he has "total confidence" in the new
director and wished he had the money to hire him at the UCSD. He said
"you couldn't find a better person" to put in charge of the DTF and
acknowledged that the agency has a tough job. But he said he does not
want to give up the war his department has waged on drugs and the
county does not have the money to keep that system and hire an officer
to send to DTF.

"Having our own drug agent right here working for us, his primary goal
is Unicoi County," Harris said. "When we get a call, he's right on top
of it, and giving him to the DTF, that would be a loss to us.
Result-wise, we've got a lot more results out of what we have now. You
can look back at the number of arrests that have increased. I know the
county's a lot better off than it was."

Walker understands Harris' feeling about having to hand over half of
the money, but he said DTF would be able to provide a lot of extra
officers to address a problem in Unicoi County if something major happens.

Harris said the sheriff's department did not believe it was getting
its money's worth when it pulled out of DTF in 2002.

"When I campaigned for sheriff, everywhere I'd go, that's all I would
hear is horror stories about the drug problems and overdoses," he
said. "And when I finally got in down here, it was a problem. We
really wanted to tackle it head forward, and the only way to do that
was to do it in-house and get results instead of channeling things
through the DTF and back over here."

The other problem was that the officers the UCSD had sent to the DTF
were spending a majority of their time working cases in other areas in
the district, mainly Johnson City, and it was hard to get the agency
to work here, he said.

Walker agrees that the DTF did not spend as much time in Unicoi County
as other areas in the district before, but he said his aim is that all
police agencies in the area get their fair share of the drug
enforcement pie.