OFFICERS WARY OF CRACK RELEASES

GREENSBORO -- More than 400 prisoners convicted for crack cocaine in
and around the Triad could soon see their sentences reduced, and law
enforcement officials say that could put them back in the drug trade.
Recently, federal sentencing guidelines were changed -- shortening
sentences for crack convictions to bring them more in line with those
for powdered cocaine. This week, the U.S. Sentencing Commission made
the changes retroactive, meaning prisoners could be eligible for
earlier release. "I don't have any problem with them scaling back the
sentences," Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes said Friday. "I think we
need to be consistent with sentences for crack and powder cocaine.
But, I hope they've been cured of their drug addiction in prison if
they're coming out." According to the U.S. Department of Justice,
North Carolina's Middle District -- which includes Guilford and 23
other counties -- has 436 prisoners who could be eligible for sentence
reductions for their crack convictions. Barnes said Guilford County
has a serious problem with cheap, easily available drugs such as crack
and methamphetamine.

By releasing people convicted of crack crimes early, Barnes said, the
federal government could make that problem worse.

"Crack is the easiest to sell of the drugs, so gangs get involved in
it," Barnes said. "There is a strong gang connection with crack, and a
strong connection between crack and violence."

George S.B. Holding, the U.S. attorney for the state's Eastern
District, issued a news release Thursday to say his office had been
working to prevent the change in sentencing.

"Crack cocaine remains a plague which affects some of our most
vulnerable neighborhoods and citizens," Holding said in the release.
"Despite these changes in the law, my office remains committed to the
aggressive investigation and prosecution of those involved in crack
cocaine." "We refuse to surrender those vulnerable neighborhoods and
citizens to drug dealers and gang members," the statement read. "So
our aggressive prosecutions will continue."

Guilford District Attorney Doug Henderson could not be reached for
comment Friday. Several Triad police officers declined to comment on
the sentencing changes, saying the issue was too hot politically and
racially charged. Advocates for the sentencing change have long argued
that longer sentences for crack are racist, citing statistics that
more black people are arrested for possession and sale of crack and
more white people are arrested for powdered cocaine.

"Whatever the law is -- crack or powder cocaine -- I think we need to
enforce it the same and be consistent," Barnes said. "But I can tell
you that you can make a lot of crack with a little powdered cocaine,
and there are a lot of addicts out there. I just hope this doesn't
mean we get more."