TASK FORCE: SMALL IN NUMBERS, BIG ON IMPACT

It may be small in numbers, but its impact is being felt across the
Bootheel and Northeast Arkansas.

The Bootheel Drug Task Force is an elite group of law enforcement officers
whose primary duties are drug-related crimes. And, it is making headway in
the fight against drugs in the region.

"If task force didn't exist there is no argument that road officers would
not have the time to pursue drug investigations and their other duties as
well," said Chief Joe Brumley of the Kennett Police Department. "It is very
important to us."

The Pemiscot County Sheriff's Department is actually the administrative
agency for the Bootheel Drug Task Froce.

Sheriff Tommy Greenwell said when he was elected to office in Pemiscot
County, the task force consisted of two officers from the sheriff's department.

"We have reorganized the task force. The Kennett and Caruthersville police
departments joined us and the Dunklin County Sheriff's Department
participated also." Greenwell said. "The task force has grown from two
officers to six. All of them are DEA certified. We have one agent who is
now being trained at the FBI Academy."

The Task Force is a multi-jurisdictional drug task force that covers all of
Pemiscot and Dunklin counties. The task force investigates all types of
crime involving drug possession and sales.

It works closely with SEMO Drug Task Force and other area law enforcement
agencies including adjacent counties in Arkansas and Tennessee. Dunklin and
Pemiscot and other counties in the tri-state region are signatories of a
multi-state agreement which make it possible for law enforcement officers
to pursue investigations across county and state lines.

The task force has six full-time officers, three of whom are paid through
Narcotics Control Assistance Program (NCAP) funds, another by the Missouri
Sheriff's Relief Team program (MOSMART), and the remaining two by the
cities of Kennett and Caruthersville. Dunklin and Pemiscot counties provide
a 25 percent cash match to the NCAP grant.

The task force has a $221,251 operating budget, which includes the salaries
of four of the officers and operating expenses. Kennett and Caruthersville
pay their officers and provide them with a vehicle and expenses. In
Kennett, the vehicle expenses are paid by a Law Enforcement Block Grant
which also covers some equipment costs.

Last year, the Bootheel Drug Task Force handled 255 new cases, 119 of which
were in Dunklin County and 138 in Pemiscot County. More than 30 percent of
the Dunklin County cases occurred in Kennett. There were 36 arrests on
methamphetamine, 13 on crack cocaine, 23 for marijuana related and four
charges for dealing with illegal sale of pharmaceuticals.

"The task force has a lot of cases going on, some may go on a year or
longer. The task force only does press releases when it makes arrests or
executes search warrants," Greenwell said. "But, it actually has more
operations going on."

In 2001 the Bootheel Drug Task Force was one of 14 such task forces in the
MOSMART program. It ranked second in the number of clandestine
methamphetamine labs seized and was third in methamphetamine-related
arrests with 153. The charges included manufacture, attempted manufacture
and possession of methamphetamine and theft of anhydrous ammonia.

During the first four months of this year, 74 new cases were opened by the
task force. Twenty-three of the cases occurred in Kennett and half of them
involved methamphetamine.

In the past 16 months 17 people have been indicted on federal drug charges
as a result of task force cases. Five of those cases were in Kennett.

"We've been taking a lot of our cases to the feds because they get a lot
more time in prison and no parole. They have to serve at last 85 percent of
their sentence," said Brumley.