DRUG TASK FORCE FUNDS DWINDLING

Sheriffs From Five Counties Meet To Discuss Funding Dilemma

There were some very long faces at the headquarters of the Southeast
Mississippi Drug Task Force Thursday afternoon while sheriffs from five
counties including Jones County met to discuss their options in trying to
stare down funding shortages from federal authorities.

The biggest fear from chief law enforcement officers from Jones, Jasper,
Smith, Simpson, and Covington counties is that all the progress made in the
last dozen years will be for naught. Jasper County Sheriff Kenneth Cross
seemed to put the crisis in perspective when he said, "We all remember what
it was like before the task forces were formed. We are looking at the
possibility of going back to those days where drugs went virtually
unchecked. If the funding dries up, then we are back where we started."

Drug task forces all across the state of Mississippi are staring down the
same gun barrel. In letters sent out to the 17 agencies March 22, Billy V.
White Jr., executive director of the Department of Public Safety Division
of Public Safety Planning informed task force commanders and sheriffs
aligned with them according to county, that as much as 36 percent of the
previous funds allocated by the federal government would not be available.
The former Byrne and LLEBG Federal Grant Programs were merged into the
newly authorized JAG Program for fiscal year 2005.

"This means that all agencies previously funded under the Byrne and LLEBG
programs will have to take substantial cuts for the 05 fiscal year," White
said in the letters of notification.

This is exactly what the SMDTF Control Board, consisting of Cross, Jones
County Sheriff Larry Dykes, Smith County Sheriff Charlie Crumpton, Sheriff
Roger Speed of Covington County, and Sheriff Kenneth Lewis of Simpson
County didn't need to hear right now.

"I can tell you without even looking at the stats the vast majority of
cases the Jones County Sheriff's Office presented to the DAs office in the
last grand jury session were drug cases," said Dykes. "That's true with
each and every one of the counties represented here. The only way we've
been able to keep the drug traffic in check is with the federal funding.
None of us has the manpower of the budgets or our respective agencies to
tackle this alone. It just won't work. That's were we were years ago."

This funding cut represents a decrease of millions of dollars statewide.
Dollars none of the task forces can ill afford to lose.

For the current 2004-2005 grant year, the Mississippi Department of Public
Safety received over $5.3 million to fund the Byrne Grant and the Local Law
Enforcement Block Grant. The Byrne Grant alone, earmarked to fund statewide
narcotics task forces, received more than $3 million of that $5.3 million
pie. The LLEBG provides funding to municipal law enforcement agencies and
sheriffs departments.

Now the federal government has cut those totals to $3.3 million for the
2005-2006 fiscal year. The JAG, or Justice Assistance Grant, starts out
roughly $2 million short of the previous funding year. To drive the last
nail in the coffin of the state's drug task forces, there has been no money
allocated as yet for the fiscal year following 2006.

"That is amazing," said Dykes as he held up the letter pointing to the big
zero on it. "We are behind the eight-ball right now and the bad part about
it the drug dealers will be the beneficiaries of all this."

Crumpton spoke with Stanley Shows, a representative of Third Congressional
District Congressman Chip Pickering regarding the letter. Shows stated
Congressman Pickering was very interested in doing everything they could
because our counties will impacted greatly by this issue.

"We are providing Chip's office with stats and facts regarding the growing
methamphetamine problem for all of our counties," Crumpton said.

To emphasis the point of the crystal meth problem, Crumpton shared
information concerning a recent bust in which a major meth manufacturing
operation was stopped cold.

"There were 11 labs within throwing distance of each other," Crumpton said.
"We sat on that place for more than a week using men and materials to watch
this place and get the people responsible. We finally got them but with
these cuts coming down, we wouldn't have been able to do that."

Crumpton also said those arrested were from the municipalities of central
Mississippi.

"They are coming down to our rural counties and cooking this stuff then
transporting it back to the bigger towns and cities," Crumpton added.

Dyes noted that most, if not all, of the sheriff's offices now were
swimming against the tide in terms of just the regular budgets of their
respective agencies. As it is right now, most of the sheriff's said they
will be over budget with fuel prices and other such expenses rising almost
on a daily basis.

"We don't have the capability within our individual budgets to absorb this
sort of loss in funding," noted Dykes. "We could cut a man from the force
but we are all already short handed as it is. We can make some little cuts
here and there in the task force without affecting the salaries of the
agents or letting one go altogether but I don't see where it will be enough
to make up this much ground."

The funding shortfall will undoubtedly affect all aspects of the war
against drugs in the counties. Money used to make undercover buys, agent
salaries for long hours of surveillance, vehicle maintenance, and fuel is
vital in order to keep the drug traffic in check.

"We are never going to totally eradicate drugs from our communities or our
society," said Dykes. "That's just being realistic. But the job we've been
able to do over the last dozen years has helped in keeping drugs away from
our homes and children like never before. Just when we are hitting our
stride we get this sort of news. I'm afraid this could spell the end of the
task forces as we know them."

[PHOTO CAPTION]

Sheriffs from the five counties making up the Southeast Mississippi Drug
Task Force gathered last week in Calhoun to discuss the funding shortages
facing not only the SMDTF for all 17 agencies across the state. Photo/Brian
Livingston.