IN WITH THE OLD

Busted Keel

Despite the best efforts of Rep. Terry Keel (R-Austin) and the Texas ACLU
to kill them off, the regional narcotics task forces survived the
legislative session largely intact. In March, Rep. Keel explained in these
pages ("An Even Keel?" 3/14/2003) why the task forces cannot be reformed.
They are structurally unsound. A lack of accountability and a license to
raise money by seizing assets breeds shoddy police work and rampant
corruption. Keel witnessed task force problems firsthand as Travis County
sheriff.

A litany of task force scandals across the state make the case that they
are irredeemably flawed. While the work of Tom Coleman in Tulia is the
best-known example of a task force-in this case the Panhandle Rural
Narcotics Task Force-going awry it is far from the only one. In San
Antonio, an officer was convicted of stealing drugs from a task force
evidence locker; in Wimberley, a suspect accused of twice selling half an
ounce of pot was killed by a task force in a raid; and in Hearne, a crooked
confidential informant helped set up 28 people.

At the outset of the session, Keel felt confident that his fellow
legislators would agree to end this failed drug war experiment, despite
their terror of appearing soft on crime. A need to save money and the
promise that federal task force funds could be used for other endeavors
would help sway them, Keel avowed. And indeed, the Texas House voted to
abolish or significantly modify the task forces three times. Yet the vote
of the lower chamber was not enough to win passage of the measure. Worried
perhaps that the governor would veto a direct bill, Keel focused on putting
a rider into the appropriations bills. While it passed in the House, it
died in conference committee. Keel also placed an amendment on mammoth
government reorganization bills in both the House and the Senate but those
bills failed as well.

It seemed like the task forces had won at least a two-year reprieve. Then a
week after the session officially ended, 13 of the 45 task forces received
a letter from Gov. Rick Perry telling them they would be losing their
funding. The outcry was instantaneous. In Palestine, the Dogwood Trails
Narcotics Task Force had Sen. Todd Staples (R-Palestine) and a local judge
lobby the governor. The same occurred in the Waco area where the Agriplex
Drug Task Force mobilized Sen. Kip Averitt (R-McGregor).

By the end of the day, the governor's office had faxed a new letter to
eight of the task forces claiming the first missive had been a mistake. Not
included among the five that will lose funding are the task forces
responsible for the worst excesses, in Hearne, the Panhandle, and Floresville.

Yet all is not lost. The work of Keel and the ACLU during the session
educated legislators that federal Byrne grants that fund the task forces
can be used for other needs such as domestic violence, homeland security,
and drug treatment. When it comes time to apply to the governor in January
for Byrne money, the task forces may find they have competition. And fresh
scandals that could place the task forces back in the news are possible, a
fact even prosecutors who support them acknowledge. The Texas District and
County Attorneys Association's website states in their legislative update:
"Now that all the dust has settled, it looks like legislative efforts to
cut funding to the regional narcotics task forces were unsuccessful.
However, this doesn't mean that those folks are out of the woods just
yet-look for this issue to remain on the front burner for a little while
(or at least for as long as some of these task forces continue to be their
own worst enemy...)."