HANDCUFFING ENFORCEMENT

A Lack Of Integrity, Money And Unity Limits Investigation Of Drug Operations

LONDON - Over the past five years, Congress has approved $30 million for a
program that was supposed to meld federal, state and local police into one
cooperative force to attack drugs in Southeastern Kentucky and parts of
east Tennessee and West Virginia.

That hasn't happened.

. Turf fights have sometimes gotten in the way, as one police agency
avoided sharing information with another.

. The history of bribery and corruption among local lawmen has made state
and federal police reluctant to share confidential information with local cops.

"That is just not possible in some Eastern Kentucky counties, because of
corruption," said Dave Gilbert, a former deputy director of the program.

. Though money flowing through the Appalachia High Intensity Drug
Trafficking Area program, called HIDTA, has paid for some expensive
equipment, member agencies have at times used the money for their own work
outside the target area, a former member of its board said.

There's no question the program has boosted the fight against drugs in the
sprawling area it covers.

Agencies working under HIDTA have seized millions of dollars worth of drugs
and hundreds of weapons. They've cut and burned marijuana worth an
estimated $5 billion in an eradication program one federal official called
"second to none in the country." And HIDTA members have arrested more than
6,000 people since the program started in 1998, according to its annual
reports.

But some local agencies complain they've seen little of the money. And
funding for one leg of the program -- an effort to interrupt the flow of
drugs by stopping couriers on the highways -- was frozen in 2002 after
federal officials said it wasn't working well.

Changes aimed at addressing the problems are under way. But police across
Southeast Kentucky acknowledge that the illegal drug trade has grown
quickly over the past several years, and their side has some catching up to do.

Federal money helps

In 1998, an area centered on Southeast Kentucky became a HIDTA -- that is,
an area of high-intensity drug trafficking. There are now 28 such areas.

The region's enduring status as one of the five largest marijuana-producing
states in the country helped it win that designation. The considerable
influence of Republican U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, who represents much of
Eastern Kentucky, also played a role.

Without HIDTA, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration probably
wouldn't have several agents stationed in Laurel County. The U.S. Forest
Service wouldn't have extra officers to prowl for pot patches. And the
Internal Revenue Service and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms wouldn't have extra agents in rural Kentucky to investigate money
laundering and gun crimes related to drugs.

HIDTA's headquarters in London includes an intelligence center to help
police. The program also brings money for increased prosecution in state
and federal courts.

But the core of the HIDTA concept -- bringing federal, state and local
police together to share information and target drug traffickers -- hasn't
come to pass.

For example, one goal of the program is called "co-location" -- getting
police from each agency moved into the same office to share information.
Though HIDTA rents office space in downtown London for $150,000 a year, not
all the participating agencies keep officers there. Member agencies say it
has been difficult to get all the agencies together, in part because of a
lack of space, and because they cover such a large rural area.

The program has been a financial boon for participating agencies, which
include the FBI and DEA, several state-level police agencies and the
National Guard.

For the last fiscal year, state-level police agencies requested more than
$750,000 from HIDTA to pay officers overtime.

Agencies have also put in for hundreds of thousands of dollars to lease
vehicles and buy high-tech surveillance and communications equipment. The
West Virginia Public Safety Commission, for instance, asked for seven
mobile communication systems at $7,728 each. The Kentucky State Police
sought two $3,000 night-vision monoculars. And the U.S. Forest Service
requested cameras that cost $7,300 each.

HIDTA Director Roy Sturgill said most such budget requests have been honored.

But local police departments say little money has trickled down to them.
Harlan County Sheriff Steve Duff said his office got about $5,000 in
overtime funding over the past three years through HIDTA.

"Where they're lacking with locals is they're not giving us enough
funding," Duff said.

Col. Steve Lundy of the Corbin police said HIDTA once offered the
department $4,000. That would have paid an officer to work only a few hours
a week to investigate drug couriers, he said.

"It's too limited to do anything with drug traffic," Lundy said.

Some police said they hadn't seen much of an effort to bring local police
into investigations.

"We expected more of a cooperative type thing," said Todd Roberts,
assistant police chief in Manchester.

Glen Thomas, who recently retired as a law-enforcement supervisor for the
U.S. Forest Service and was on the HIDTA executive board, said the board
urged local police to apply for funding by submitting specific plans, but
got little response.

Misdirection of funds

The Appalachia HIDTA faced the first comprehensive review by its parent
agency last summer. The federal Office of National Drug Control Policy
declined to release findings from the review, saying the document wasn't final.

But several people who saw results of the review said it raised questions
about whether participating agencies were using the program to boost their
budgets and continue their own work, rather than coming together to
multiply effectiveness.

The review noted concerns that investigative agencies weren't sharing
information.

Some agencies had used HIDTA-funded equipment, such as cameras,
drug-sniffing dogs and vehicles, for work outside the target counties, said
Thomas, the former Forest Service supervisor.

Agencies participating in the "interdiction" initiative aimed at stopping
drug couriers were in effect using HIDTA money to fund their own individual
programs, reviewers noted.

Maj. David Herald of the Kentucky Division of Vehicle Enforcement said
there was a shortfall in exactly what the HIDTA program is supposed to
promote: cooperation, communication and information sharing.

The vehicle enforcement division had participated in the interdiction
program that was canceled.

Herald said investigators from other agencies didn't let his officers know
about potential leads. And when the interdiction cops made an arrest, there
was no attempt to follow up and connect the drug courier to other
investigations.

"Everybody was basically doing their own thing, and you're not going to be
successful that way," Herald said.

Herald and others said the HIDTA concept is good, but has been undermined
at times when participating agencies looked to protect turf.

The federal reviewers also said federal and state agencies needed to work
with local officers on task forces, said U.S. Attorney Gregory F. Van
Tatenhove.

'It's done a lot of good'

Several current and former HIDTA officials said it's not unusual that there
were some bumps in developing such a large program. Some say the Appalachia
program didn't get a great deal of firm direction from ONDCP in its early days.

Nonetheless, the good has far outweighed the bad, they said.

"I think it has been a successful program. It's done a lot of good," said
Gilbert, the former deputy director.

HIDTA officials are working on changes aimed at making the program more
effective.

For instance, the DEA, state police and the Forest Service have started
working on task forces with local police, or developing such joint efforts,
in several counties.

The program's executive board has requested federal approval to pick up
salary and overtime costs for some local officers to take part in task
forces, said Sturgill, the HIDTA director.

And though there have been concerns about trusting local officers, there
are a lot of good cops throughout the region who can work with federal and
state authorities to bust drug operations, Thomas said.

At the direction of its federal overseers, the Appalachia HIDTA board will
be putting its money behind the concept of cooperation. Before any agency
can get funding, it will have to be part of a formal task force with a
defined objective, said Van Tatenhove, who is on the board.

That change is aimed at ensuring that money goes to specific anti-drug
operations, instead of just going to agencies.

As HIDTA nears the end of its fifth year in business, Van Tatenhove said he
is excited about its potential.

"This is a great resource for our community," he said, "particularly a part
of our state that continues to struggle with the war on drugs."