MAURY COUNTY DRUG TASK FORCE CLOSING UP SHOP

As part of a larger restructuring effort, the Columbia Police Department is
pulling out of the Maury County Drug Task Force, effectively disbanding the
unit, Chief Barry Crotzer said Monday.

Crotzer said he believes the change will allow his officers to concentrate
on fighting the drug problem in Columbia.

"Our primary focus will be on the city, where as before, it was
county-wide," Crozer said.

The restructuring will move all of the officers from the Criminal
Investigations, Narcotics and Crime Suppression Units into the building
currently occupied by the task force, Crotzer said. A new captain, promoted
from the ranks, will head the new division.

"This is something I've wanted to for a long time," Crotzer said.

The move, which will include renovation of the building now occupied by the
task force, will take place after the end of this year and be done with
minimum cost, Crotzer said.

"We're not going to get elaborate, were not going to spend a lot of money,"
he said.

Currently, four narcotics and six crime suppression officers work out of a
small converted warehouse on Pillow Drive along with two officers from the
county.

Crotzer said the change doesn't signify a lack of interest in curtailing
drugs in the area, or friction between departments.

"We're still going to be very aggressive enforcing drug laws. It's just not
going to be out of the same building (with other agencies)," Crotzer said.
"Co-operation will still be an important part of fighting drugs."

Sheriff Enoch George said he didn't expect CPD to pull out of the unit, but
had talked with Crotzer about department restructuring.

"There's been some problem with lack of ... supervision (in the Task
Force)," George said. "It's not my decision. We started this thing seven
years ago. Maybe they feel it's served it usefulness."

The Sheriff's Department will still cooperate with CPD on drug busts, but
its narcotics officers will no longer be deputized to make arrests in Maury
County, George said.

"Well just move our people back and start our own drug department," said
George. "We're the chief law enforcement agency in the county. We're
responsible for covering county and the city. We'll do what we can to cover
all the people."

Monday's announcement marks the second time a department has pulled out of
the task force. In July, Mt. Pleasant Police Chief Tom Wilson took
Investigator Tommy Goetz off the force. Wilson said Goetz was removed
because of manpower issues in the department.

"In this small town, the issue is manpower. We needed more use of Tommy
Goetz," Wilson said in July.

On Monday former County Commissioner Frank Duncan, one of the many critics
of the Task Force, said he thinks the restructuring is a good idea.

"I think it should have been done a long time ago," he said.

Duncan, a former police officer who headed the Columbia Narcotics Unit
before the task force was created in 1993, said he thinks putting the unit
under the sole control of the chief will "produce more cases."

City manager Mike Miller backed Crotzer's decision but said he thinks there
will be another task force in the future. "I think he's just trying to get
control of his department," he said.