FRANK MELTON 'THE NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN'

A few years back, the most blunt-spoken person at the Mississippi Capitol
was then-Gov. Kirk Fordice.

He said what he believed, the consequences be damned - a trait that made
some people cheer and others cringe.

The Republican left office in January 2000, at the end of his
constitutionally limited two terms. Nobody emerged with the same kind
swagger.

Now, there's a new sheriff in town. Frank Melton, current Gov. Ronnie
Musgrove's nominee to lead the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, is on the
scene and is grabbing attention with a my-way-or-the-highway attitude.

Supporters applaud Melton's hands-on approach to the job. Critics wonder
whether this man with no law enforcement experience is just playing cop.

Like Fordice, Melton moved into a state job only after building a successful
private-sector career. Fordice ran his family's contracting business. Melton
has led Jackson's WLBT-Channel 3, and has been known for tough editorials
telling teenage boys to take off the earrings, hike up their pants and
become responsible young men.

Melton got folks talking on the opening day of the 2003 legislative session
when he suited up in MBN street gear to help officers make traffic stops
near the Capitol.

With a MBN helicopter hovering overhead, the stops were made just about the
time legislators, lobbyists and others were arriving in Jackson. In 2000,
the U.S. Supreme Court said random traffic stops could not be used to catch
drug criminals. Attorney General Mike Moore said last week that he wanted to
talk to Melton.

"It's going to be a particular challenge on our part to make sure that we
keep Frank between the lines of the law," Moore said.

Melton must be confirmed by the state Senate if he wants to continue the job
for which Musgrove appointed him in December. He is not accepting a state
paycheck.

Was his participation in the traffic stops a show of force to impress the
Senate?

Melton said the stops were about rooting out drugs and other illegal
activity. Talking to reporters, he also noted testily that the downtown
stops weren't the MBN's only efforts of the day.

He said officers visited schools and swept through other Jackson
neighborhoods to look for drugs. Melton, who is black, said he resented any
implication that MBN should not search white neighborhoods.

"We started on Lamar Street and we started on Farish Street," Melton said.
"Nobody's raising hell about that. And I resent and will not tolerate people
raising Cain because we're in the downtown area where people who don't look
like me happen to travel." And what about those who said he shouldn't be
randomly stopping people?

"My comment is get used to it," Melton said. "We're doing one neighborhood
at a time. And to avoid any profiling, we're going to look at everybody,
including y'all."

He said since he started at MBN, officers have conducted searches on
long-distance buses and on Amtrak trains. He said profiling is wrong and he
resents people thinking that most drug peddling happens in black
neighborhoods.

"The guy who's peddling methamphetamines, I can tell you the profile on him.
He has a Confederate flag on his truck and one of these (NASCAR) race car
things," Melton said.

"And since I've been on this job, the majority of the arrests we have made
have been Caucasian, not that it matters, but that has dealt with
methamphetamine, which deeply concerned me because it's a very, very
explosive drug."