DANU AGENT LEAVES FOR OKLAHOMA CITY POST

Kent Dowell, a District Attorney's Narcotics Unit agent who has worked
countless drug investigations to rid Pottawatomie and Lincoln Counties of
illegal drugs, leaves DANU this week to pursue another job.

Dowell will work in the patrol division of the Oklahoma City Police Department.

While he's ready for a change, Dowell said leaving DANU will be difficult.
But he said he hopes to work in narcotics again someday.

"It's an aspect of law enforcement where I feel I'm making the biggest
difference for people," he said.

He said DANU is an aggressive task force, "setting a pace" to help rid
communities of drugs.

"People know there's an unrelenting presence and we're not going to
tolerate drug activity," Dowell said.

While working with DANU, he estimates he and other drug agents have removed
about $500,000 in finished methamphetamine products from the streets and
shut down countless meth labs. He's also hauled in more than 20,000
marijuana plants and made other busts, including cocaine.

Being a drug agent is a job he loves, but there are difficulties working in
narcotics, he said.

"I've seen families and lives destroyed," he said. "Of all the people who
use meth, I've seen all social classes. All different walks of life make
conscious choices."

Dowell understands addiction, he said, but everyone has the character to
say no.

"Put your foot down and say OI'm not going to do this,'" he said. "Many
addicts spiral downward, even with people holding hands of help along the
way. You can choose to fight addiction or give into it."

Dowell remembers one case in which a child turned in her own parents after
participating in a Drug Abuse Resistance Education program at her school.

The 8-year-old girl called and reported that her parents wouldn't stop
taking drugs.

"She listened to her D.A.R.E. officer and we got involved," he said. "The
little girl did thank me."

Many drug investigations begin from anonymous tips. DANU agents have
immense case loads, so many times they go after what is hot on a given day,
including upper level distributors and manufacturers, he said. DANU agents
also are police officers, he said, and have a duty to uphold an oath of
public safety -- whether drugs are involved or not.

Dowell is a native of Pottawatomie County. His law enforcement career here
has spanned eight years, beginning as a Citizen Potawatomi Nation tribal
officer in 1994.

He also joined the Pottawatomie County Sheriff's Office reserve that year,
then became a full-time deputy before moving on to the Multi-Tribal drug
task force.

In February 1997, he accepted a job as a DANU agent. Since that time, he's
seen dramatic advances in the DANU program. When he started, there was very
little or no support, he said. "Now, everyone's saying, OLet's go fight
drugs -- we've had enough,'" he said.

Dowell said he appreciates Shawnee Police Chief Hank Land, the Kickapoo
Tribal Police Department, as well as Wellston and Carney Police, because
several officers in those departments are cross-deputized to work with DANU
on drug cases.

He applied with the Oklahoma City Police Department last year in hopes of
getting a job to secure retirement for his future and provide a more normal
lifestyle, he said.

As great as his DANU job is, he says, "I just can no longer do 48-hour
shifts and be on call all the time. I want to enjoy my family and my horses
in my off time."

There's another advantage about OCPD. His brother, Kirk, is an officer
there and they'll get to work together.

And while he says good-bye to his co-workers, he knows he'll miss the
district attorney's office.

"I'm walking away from an in-depth partnership," which includes his drug
agent partner and drug-sniffing dog. "We're like a family," Dowell said.