SHERIFFS WEIGH DRUG TASK FORCES

As a sheriff candidate for Routt County, which includes the mountain
town of Steamboat Springs, Gary Wall promised voters he would protect
residents' civil liberties. And soon after winning election in
November, he withdrew financial support from the region's drug task
force. By the numbers

Here's a look at how much money was spent in the last five years by
the Southwest Drug Task Force. Those funds came from La Plata County
and the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Traffic Area, or HIDTA.
The HIDTA grants, from the federal government, made up about 36
percent of the funds (HIDTA numbers are in parentheses).

2006 = $527,246 ($187,735)

2005 = $503,258 ($197,975)

2004 = $478,329 ($186,437)

2003 = $525,549 ($174,995)

2002 = $478,175 ($154,760)

About the task force

In 1996, La Plata County Sheriff Duke Schirard assigned a patrol
lieutenant to form a small unit to work narcotics. In 1998, the
sheriff's office asked other law-enforcement agencies in the county
to participate in the unit. For the most part, all other agencies
agreed to participate, but some more informally than others. The unit
then became known as the Southwest Drug Task Force.The agency then
successfully applied for grants from the Rocky Mountain High
Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, and has been receiving grants ever
since. Now the task force consists of one Ignacio Police Department
officer, four sheriff's deputies, an administrator and a Colorado
Bureau of Investigation agent. There are also two agents with the
Drug Enforcement Agency who work with the task force on an informal
basis. The task force has about seven employees.

The task force, he said, seized a "shockingly low" amount of drugs in
2006, and investigators had a "total disrespect" for suspects' civil
liberties. "I'm not going to participate in an organization that has
that history," he said.

In contrast, La Plata County Sheriff Duke Schirard said he is
impressed with the amount of drugs being seized by the Southwest Drug
Task Force in this region, and he is confident that civil liberties
aren't being violated.

But the enforcement tactics that Wall denounced in Steamboat Springs
are the same tactics being used here in La Plata County.

Those tactics include the use of undercover police officers, the
buying and selling of illegal drugs by undercover police and
informants, the use of confidential informants who are facing
criminal prosecution and the refusal to work with confidential
informants if they speak to a lawyer.

Schirard said these methods are necessary in fighting the war on
drugs; Wall said these methods are a recipe for violating
constitutional rights, compromising the integrity of investigators,
and perpetuating a negative image of law enforcement.

What's more, these tactics are largely unsuccessful, Wall said in a
telephone interview last week. "The war on drugs has been a dismal
failure from every aspect," he said.

During the last five years, the Southwest Drug Task Force spent an
average of $502,524 per year - 36 percent of that coming from federal
funds - to disrupt drug operations in this region, according to
county data. And during that time, the task force seized 5.6 pounds
of cocaine, 834 pounds of marijuana, and 17.8 pounds of
methamphetamine, and made 245 arrests, according to task force data.

When compared with other task forces of the same size, the Southwest
Drug Task Force ranked No. 1 last year in terms of disrupting and
dismantling drug operations, said Tom Gorman, director of the Rocky
Mountain High Intensity Drug Traffic Area, or HIDTA, which divvies
out federal funds to drug task forces in a four-state region.

"They were very high in areas that we value," Gorman said. "If they
continue to target and work to investigate drug trafficking
organizations, they're going to be fine. They have been relatively
successful at it."

While the numbers seem impressive, they don't speak to the methods
used to produce such results.

According to Wall, using confidential informants opens a realm of
ethical concerns, including:

It puts informants at risk by forcing them to buy and sell drugs in
large quantities. If violent drug dealers learn of an informant, they
are liable to harm that person, Wall said.

In order for a task force to work with an informant, the informant
must waive his or her constitutional right to talk to an attorney.
And if the informant speaks to an attorney, the task force ends its
relationship with the informant and begins prosecuting.

"When you intimidate people into relinquishing their constitutional
rights, of which (law enforcement) is supposed to make sure
(defendants) can exercise, I start having problems with that," Wall said.

Using informants and undercover officers to buy and sell drugs
perpetuates the illegal activity.

In order to buy and sell drugs, officers are required to lie to
suspects. But allowing government agents to lie to citizens fosters
distrust among the public.

"I think you have to be very careful when you have law enforcement
people who are lying to people," Wall said.

Schirard said using informants and undercover officers is a necessary
component to identifying drug dealers and stopping the flow of
narcotics in the region. Drug dealers, after all, are not going to
sell to police officers wearing a uniform.

Informants must sign contracts agreeing not to talk to defense
lawyers, he said, because if they did, it would blow their cover.
Defense lawyers have other clients who are wrapped up in drugs,
Schirard said, and in two hours the drug community would learn of the
informant's identity.

"It's just a matter of security," Schirard said. "It's a matter of
confidentiality. You don't tell anybody you're a snitch or you're an
informant. It could be very dangerous."

The Southwest Drug Task Force has checks and balances, he said. There
is oversight by the 6th Judicial District Attorney's Offices, which
prosecutes the cases; the Colorado Bureau of Investigation has an
agent assigned to the task force; and task force members report to
Schirard. Durango Log homes

Gorman, with HIDTA, said those who question drug-enforcement tactics
are in the minority and tend to be extremely liberal or libertarian
and they don't understand drug policy. The use of informants and
undercover officers are common law-enforcement tactics used to
investigate a variety of crimes, from drugs to homicides, he said.

"Without that you've got nothing," Gorman said. "You'd almost have to
have somebody come up to you and say, 'I'm a terrorist, arrest me.'"

And Gorman disputes the notion that America's drug policy is not
effective. He said only 7 percent to 8 percent of the population uses
drugs, but that number was double in 1979, the height of the drug epidemic.

"Our job is to keep it from going back up again and trying to get it
reduced," Gorman said.

While the Southwest Drug Task Force has won praise for its
effectiveness at seizing drugs, the agency has not always performed
with the highest level of ethics, according to city defense lawyers.

In May 2005, a task force investigator was fired after reports
surfaced that he had a sexual relationship with a confidential
informant. The informant, Leslie Parker, passed a polygraph test
administered by the La Plata County Sheriff's Office. And within
weeks, her felony drug case was dismissed.

Revelations of the sexual encounter became known only after Parker
obtained a lawyer in another case, said public defender Tom
Williamson of Durango.

"In the past, I think there have been sometimes abusive and bullying
tactics by the drug task force," Williamson wrote in an e-mail. But
last summer, the task force hired a new director, Lt. Rick Brown, and
now defense lawyers, including Williamson, are hoping for
less-intimidating tactics.

Brown said protecting civil liberties and ensuring officer integrity
are paramount to him, as is cleaning up the drug problem in La Plata County.

"There is a lot happening here with drugs," he said. "There would be
a lot more if the Southwest Drug Task Force weren't here."

And Sheriff Schirard said methamphetamine is the No. 1 problem. The
drug fuels domestic violence, theft and murder, he said, and it is
claiming children and spouses as victims.

"It causes people to become paranoid and violent," he said.

"As far I'm concerned, the Southwest Drug Task Force is the only
organization dedicated to doing something about this horrible problem."