FEWER AGENTS FIGHT GROWING DRUG PROBLEM

Region task force also operating with less funding

LAFAYETTE, Ga. - As the drug problem in Northwest Georgia continues to
grow, the number of agents with the drug task force serving the area is at
an all-time low, a task force commander said. "We used to be proactive
against drugs in this area," Chris Hill, co mmander with the Lookout
Mountain Judicial Circuit Drug Task Force, said. "Drugs have become such a
problem that all we're doing now is reacting." One North Georgia sheriff
said funding and policy changes were reasons he pulled his officers out of
the force. "We still have a relationship with them and help them when they
need it," Dade County Sheriff Philip Street said. "It was more practical
for our county to pull out." The Drug Task Force originally included agents
from Dade, Walker, Catoosa and Chattooga counties, which comprise the
Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit. Other agents on the force were from
cities within each county and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Mr. Hill
said. In the 1990s, eight to nine agents served on the force each year, he
said. As many as 14 agents have served at one time, Mr. Hill said. Now
there are five agents and one administrative assistant, he said. Catoosa
and Dade counties, the Fort Oglethorpe Police Department and the GBI have
all pulled their agents and resources from the force. The force
investigates an average of 250 to 300 drug-related cases each year, Mr.
Hill said. Three years ago, the amount would have included those in which
the force assisted in county cases.

Now, the task force handles that many by itself, he said. Sheriff Street
pulled out of the task force a little more than a year ago. He said his was
the latest department to leave. A new policy required agents to meet at the
headquarters in LaFayette each day. Sheriff Street said he was having to
pay for the officers' drive time from Trenton to LaFayette. Items seized
during drug busts, though collected in Dade County, would become property
of the task force.

Seized property can be auctioned and the money added to the agency's
budget. Last year, Dade County was able to put about $60,000 in its coffers
from the sale of seized property, Sheriff Street said. The money was used
to buy a drug dog and a new car for detectives. Despite reduced manpower,
Mr. Hill said task force agents are making more drug busts. "We've cleaned
up 18 (methamphetamine) labs in four weeks," Mr. Hill said. "A meth lab
used to be a big deal. Now it's so common." The federal government funds 75
percent of the task force's budget and the local agencies pay the remaining
25 percent. This year, the task force received the federal Edward Bryne
Memorial Drug Control Grant for $231,500. Last year, the grant was
$258,000, Mr. Hill said. If the federal money decreases, the local match
increases.

But the money stays the same regardless. "It makes it hard to afford a
cost-of-living raise for employees," Mr. Hill said.