AREA NARCOTICS OFFICERS HAVING SUCCESS AGAINST DRUG DEALERS

TUSCALOOSA | After a year of investigating an interstate ring of drug
traffickers, West Alabama Narcotics Task Force agents arrested two Texas
truck drivers who were hauling more than standard cargo.

The agents knew that when Alfredo Mendez, 40, and Jose Herrera, 26, stopped
at the TA Truck Stop in Cottondale at 9 a.m. Aug. 13, 100 pounds of
marijuana would be stashed among the car parts they were delivering to
Huntsville.

"I don't think that these two arrests will stop the influx of marijuana
from this particular source. But it does increase our intelligence, and it
makes them a little more wary about bringing it here," task force commander
Jeff Snyder said.

Both Mendez's and Herrera's cases are pending.

That bust is an example of how local narcotics officers have increasingly
targeted mid- and upper-level drug dealers in recent years, with intentions
of decreasing overall crime in the area, Snyder said.

Aggressive agents, help from the Tuscaloosa County District Attorney's
office and a new law that makes it easier to prosecute people for
manufacturing methamphetamine have contributed to an increase in drug
trafficking arrests, Snyder said.

"Our cases we make have more impact. We're making larger seizures and
conducting more complex investigations," he said.

Between July 2002 and July 2003, the task force arrested 39 people for
trafficking in marijuana, up from 20 the year before.

The task force operates on a July 1 to June 30 year to correlate with the
annual grant it receives from the Alabama Department of Economic and
Community Affairs. The grant, along with money the task force receives from
drug seizures, provides the money the task force uses to operate. The July
1, 2003, to June 31, 2004, allocation is $310,600.

In the 2002-2003 year that ended this summer, 10 people were charged with
trafficking powder cocaine and three were charged with attempted
trafficking, up from seven trafficking-related arrests the previous year.

Although no one was charged with trafficking crack cocaine either year, 80
people were charged with the sale and distribution of crack in 2002-2003,
up from 44 during the 2001-2002 year.

During July, August and September, agents made eight marijuana trafficking
arrests, two cocaine trafficking arrests and six trafficking in
methamphetamine arrests. Three people were charged with attempting to
traffic meth.

During the last grant year, the squad brought 1,722 cases against 1,377
defendants. Some of the defendants faced multiple charges. Overall,
drug-related arrests are up as well -- 1,377 in the 2002-03 grant year
compared to 1,254 in 2001-02 and 872 in 2000-01.

Snyder described his 15-officer task force as a group of proactive,
assertive officers.

"I think we've got a lot of good agents. They make tireless efforts. This
is not a nine-to-five job. You've got to be there when the deals are
happening," he said. "What keeps them motivated so much is they feel that
when they get drugs off the street they're helping the community."

The two prosecutors with the DA's office that work with the task force are
similarly resolute, Snyder said.

"I think we have a real aggressive district attorney's office. They help us
a lot. We're able to move more cases," he said.

District Attorney Tommy Smith said that his office is tough on drug dealers.

"We are very aggressive in Tuscaloosa County to pursue particularly the
dealers and the people who are manufacturing this stuff," he said. " The
people that do it, we're going to send them to prison."

Their goal is to send a message to dealers that it's not safe for them to
operate in Tuscaloosa, Smith said.

"The folks who are the major dealers, they know where they can go and
potentially not get arrested and prosecuted. They know that if they do
these things in Tuscaloosa County that they're more likely to go to prison,
and they're more likely to keep it out of here," he said.

Snyder said he has heard that the Tuscaloosa task force is known for its
vigilance.

A California man who was arrested for drug trafficking told one of the
agents that people from California knew to watch out for Tuscaloosa
narcotics agents.

"I don't know if it's true or not, but that's what an informant told us,"
he said.

Smith said the training and expertise of task force agents and prosecutors
who specialize in drug cases have paid off, resulting in more cases.

Although patrol officers come across major drug seizures while working the
street, Snyder said 99 percent of the large seizures are a result of
task-force investigations.

Snyder and Smith attributed the spike in drug arrests to a law passed in
September 2001 that makes it easier to prosecute people for possessing
precursor methamphetamine ingredients. Before the law was passed, police
were not able to arrest someone found in possession of the ingredients and
with clear intentions of making the drug, unless they actually found some
of the finished product.

In 2000-2001, eight people were charged with trafficking methamphetamine,
and one was charged with sale or distribution. No one was charged with
manufacturing the drug.

In 2001-2002, 11 people were charged with trafficking meth, and 58 were
charged with manufacturing meth.

During the 2002-2003 year, nine people were charged with trafficking meth,
and four were charged with sale or distribution. Eighty-six people were
charged with manufacturing meth.

Snyder said he believes that drugs, especially meth, are becoming more
available, which coincides with the squad's stepped-up approach.

"Every year, our monthly totals are pretty much increasing. I don't know if
that's because there's more drugs, or if we're better able to get in there
and make these cases. I think it's a combination of both," Snyder said.

Snyder, a veteran narcotics officer, said the number of drug dealers that
works the streets has decreased.

"There used to be a lot of street drug dealers, standing on the street
selling drugs. I think that the impact we've made over the years is that
there has been a sharp decrease in these street-level dealers, and I hope
that is causing a decrease in street-level random violence, especially the
kind that involves firearms and serious assaults," he said.

Smith agreed. Although he had no statistics, he said he has noticed that
crime is decreasing.

"With the aggressive prosecution, I have seen that the number of shootings
are less; the number of murders are down. There are a lot of crimes
committed that are related to drug usage," he said.

Snyder said the larger drug seizures and arrests of mid- and upper-level
dealers have positively affected crime control.

"We can put 100 people in jail, but if they're all addicts, we haven't
helped anything. Until you get the dealers, you haven't cut the head off
the snake," he said.

In April, undercover agents purchased 2 ounces of cocaine from two men.
Following up with information they provided about their source, agents went
to the home of Benjamin Little. Little led police on a chase through a
creek during a rainstorm before officers were able to apprehend him.

They expected to find cocaine when they approached Little, and they did.
But they were surprised at what else they found.

Inside two shopping bags Little was dragging with him as he ran through
Carroll's Creek, officers found recovered cash, 9 pounds of marijuana, 6
ounces of cocaine, 15 guns, many of them loaded, and a bullet-proof vest.
Little's case is pending.

Although the volume of drugs seized wasn't exceptionally large, Snyder
said, it was a significant seizure, especially because of the number of
weapons involved.

"We didn't have any indication that he had that type of firepower in his
house. It shocked me; it shocked everybody else," he said. "At least we got
them off the street."