COUNTY ALLOWS POLICE TO ACCEPT $175K GRANT TO STEP UP DRUG ARRESTS

Task Force Asked To De-Emphasize Pot Busts

BOULDER -- County commissioners Tuesday allowed the county's drug task
force to accept a $175,000 federal grant, but prefaced the decision with
another order to de-emphasize the group's marijuana enforcement.

Commissioner Will Toor questioned why a grant application listed marijuana
use at the University of Colorado in Boulder alongside methamphetamine
production and heroin use as one of the problems the task force handles.

"I would think that's the sort of thing that should be at the very bottom
of the list," Toor said.

Drug dealers often sell several kinds of drugs, so it is understandable if
marijuana dealers are arrested as a result of a meth lab investigation, for
instance, Commissioner Tom Mayer said. But production and sales of meth and
other hard drugs should be the prime concern for the task force, he said.

The commissioners also raised concerns about federal laws that allow police
agencies to seize and sell property that was likely purchased with drug
money. Agencies receive about 22 percent of the money from such sales, task
force Lt. Steve Prentup said during his presentation.

The county task force typically uses the money for staff training and new
equipment, he said.

Toor -- and before him, former Commissioner Paul Danish -- may urge the
task force to de-emphasize pot enforcement, but police cannot easily choose
what kind of arrests they make, Prentup said.

"If somebody's breaking the law and it comes to our attention, we have a
duty to enforce it," he said. "About 80 percent of our marijuana cases are
things that fall in our lap."

The $175,000 grant will help pay the salaries of four officers on the task
force and cover administrative costs such as phone bills, rent and office
supplies.

The task force is staffed with 12 officers who are funded mainly by the
Boulder County Sheriff's Office and police departments in Boulder, Erie,
Lafayette, Louisville and at CU.

The commissioners last voiced their concerns about pot busts March 1, when
they approved a $58,000 grant to pay for meth lab enforcement training for
the task force.

Marijuana use at CU will likely be in the news again today. University
officials have pledged to crack down on pot users at an annual
marijuana-themed gathering to be held at 4:20 p.m. today at Farrand Field
on campus.

CU's image has suffered recently in the wake of a football recruiting
scandal, controversy surrounding ethnic studies professor Ward Churchill, a
destructive riot on University Hill and the alcohol-related death of a
fraternity pledge.