D.A. DOESN'T BUDGE ON NARCOTICS

Saratoga Springs -- Saratoga County District Attorney James A. Murphy III
recently got a thank-you letter from an unusual source.

It was from a man serving a 4- to 8-year sentence in state prison on a
cocaine sales conviction, thanking the county prosecutor for holding him
accountable for his actions.

"Because he had to sit in prison and think about what he's done, he got his
head together," Murphy said. "He not only committed a crime, he ruined a
lot of other peoples' lives."

Sending convicted drug dealers to prison is a campaign pledge Murphy ran on
in 1997, and a promise he said he's kept as a way to deter people from the
kind of drug sales that landed the letter writer in prison and allegedly
led to the Monday's arrest of five men in Saratoga Springs.

"The message is, if you deal drugs in Saratoga County, you will go to state
prison," Murphy said.

But Murphy said his office also emphasizes treatment for people addicted
and prevention efforts for area youth as a way to decrease the demand for
drugs in the county.

Hard work and cooperation among law enforcement agencies is also a key to
stopping the influx of drugs into the county and stopping people in the
county from becoming dealers.

"We're lucky in that we can identify fairly early on when someone comes in
to set up shop," Murphy said. "Certainly, we have people in the county
deciding to do this and they are suffering some significant consequences,"
he said.

The city police has its own narcotics investigation division and State
Police also assist across the county with undercover drug operations.

All the agencies across the county meet monthly with Murphy for task force
meetings to share information.

"There's no time for territoriality," Murphy said. "Fortunately, the law
enforcement people we have in this county are always reaching out."

Murphy credited the cooperative efforts with some of the successes they've
had in investigating, arresting and getting convictions for people accused
of dealing.

In 1999, the District Attorney's office got 38 convictions from felony
indictments for drug sales, mostly cocaine. That number went to 39 in 2000,
48 in 2001 and so far this year, it has reached 18.

Murphy said the increase was a result of a concentrated effort being made
by law enforcement agencies in the county.

Cocaine and marijuana are the most common drugs seen by law enforcement,
though there's some heroin and a growing trade in Ecstasy, Murphy said.

"All drugs that are illegal, we need to work on. Be it crack cocaine, be it
heroin, be it Ecstasy, they all can really ruin peoples' lives," Murphy
said. "It's also a crime."

In addition to treatment for drug addicts, Murphy sees the possibility for
rehabilitation for convicted drug dealers once they've served their
sentence, including the man writing to thank the prosecutor from prison.

"Hopefully," Murphy said, "he will become a productive member of society."