POLICE CHIEFS HAVE DARK VIEW OF WAR ON DRUGS

If you really want to know how a war is going, don't ask the politicians or
the agency spin-doctors. Ask the front-line grunts and field commanders.

And nearly to a man, those in charge of deploying the troops at the
ground level believe our efforts largely have been a bust - pun
intended - and that it's time for major policy reform or overhaul.

No, it's not the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. That's another issue for
another time. It's the so-called war on drugs, a much longer and
perhaps thornier and more perplexing conflict that notably erupted in
response to the devastating crack cocaine epidemic that swept through
the nation in the 1980s.

Nearly 300 police chiefs, from the nation's largest metropolitan areas
to the smallest towns, agree they lack the right resources or
assistance on related fronts to turn the corner on drug abuse and
related crimes in this country, according to a national survey
released this week.

Some even date this losing war's origin to the rampant heroin use in
the mid-to late 1970s. Ironically, "chasing the dragon," street slang
for heroin, is making a significant comeback on American streets, a
bitter fruit re-harvested following the ouster of the Taliban regime,
which outlawed the growth of opium. Afghanistan now accounts for as
much as 85 percent of the heroin manufactured and sold throughout the
United States and the world.

"Clearly, we are not winning it," said Hubert Williams, a former
Newark, N.J., police commander and president of the Washington,
D.C.-based Police Foundation advocacy group that co-commissioned the
national survey.

"The most significant aspect of the survey, I feel, is that the police
chiefs actually feel more strongly now than they did eight years ago
when the first survey was conducted that our response to the drug
problem is not working," added Mathea Falco, president of Drug
Strategies, a Beltway research think tank that also sponsored the survey.

Major survey highlights include:

About 60 percent of chiefs surveyed believe drug abuse is a more
serious problem in their community today than it was five years ago.

Three out of four chiefs believe resources for adequately battling
drugs lag behind other crime or public safety problems, including the
threat of terrorism.

Police chiefs in medium-sized communities (between 25,000 to 100,000
residents) and small towns rank drug abuse as the most serious problem
they face.

Nearly half of the police chiefs believe the burden of curbing drug
abuse and related crime should be shared equally by the criminal
justice and public health arenas through education, prevention and
treatment programs.

A majority of chiefs from small and big cities favor court-supervised
treatment programs over prosecution for nonviolent drug offenders.
About 40 percent acknowledged placements in drug programs are "very"
or "fairly" difficult to find. More than four-fifths of all drug
arrests are for possession.

"Ditto" was St. Cloud Police Chief Dennis Ballantine's initial
reaction after reading the survey results. St. Cloud, a city of 60,000
about a 90-minute drive northwest of the Twin Cities, is home to a
major state college as well as an unwitting hub to a growing
methamphetamine trafficking and abuse problem.

Ballantine said recent state budget cuts to local governments and the
loss of federal funds to help equip police in drug-related enforcement
efforts have led to the reduction or elimination of education and
early intervention programs. Such "soft" approaches are the first to
go because of the prevailing sentiment that battling drugs is
primarily or exclusively a law enforcement problem.

The survey is a stinging rebuttal. Ballantine says the general feeling
of front-line narcotics cops and others who combat this problem on a
daily basis is one of resignation.

"They keep working as hard as they can, but they realize that there
will be more out there," Ballantine said. "It's like touching a water
balloon at one end, only to realize there's a bulge sticking out at
the other end."

Gary Kalstabakken is chief of police in Rosemount, a third-ring east
metro suburb that has seen its population double to nearly 20,000 in
the past 12 years. Meth also is a big concern in Rosemount, and the
chief noted that the amount of hours its 18-officer department has
spent helping a Dakota County regional drug task force will surpass
last year's total.

Much of the resources of his department are devoted to alcohol and
drug-related crimes and residual offenses, such as intoxicated
driving, domestic violence and others triggered or aggravated by
substance abuse.

"Sometimes, it does feel overwhelming," he said. "We have to be
optimistic, and continue to work at it, but I agree that this effort
has to be multi-faceted."

The grunts are on the record. Again. Let's see if the lawmakers this
coming session will fight as passionately for more treatment and
education funding efforts as they probably will for incarceration and
stiffer penalties.

About 60 percent of chiefs surveyed believe drug abuse is a more serious
problem in their community today than it was five years ago.

*MORE INFORMATION*

To read the police chief survey online, go to www.drugstrategies.org