RURAL LAW ENFORCEMENT FACING TOUGH, LEAN TIMES

Saturday night and another methamphetamine lab bust. The jail in Stephens
County is already overcrowded, but Sheriff Jimmie Bruner has had it with
druggies. And it's one more inmate in a jail that already has 20 more than
it should. Drugs are everywhere in rural Oklahoma. In fact, most of the
big-city problems are small-town problems, too. They may exist on a smaller
scale, but those who deal with them must cover a larger area and usually do
so with skeleton crews, experts say.

When more than one deputy gets sick or hurt, most sheriffs call it a crisis.

Then came the real crisis of Sept. 11, in the country's urban hubs more
than 1,000 miles away. Seven months later, the tragedy's repurcussions have
trickled into the backwoods of every town in the nation.

Now, while deputies cruise the back roads for meth labs, they must also
stop by the water supplies and dams - which are mostly rural areas - and
check for anything suspicious. When the postmast calls, deputies brace
themselves for an anthrax threat.

Foreign students get a second look by law enforcement, as does anyone
wanting to rent a crop-dusting plane or who stays too quiet in the woods.
Times are different in rural Oklahoma. Budgets, however, are not. Notorious
for paying low wages, counties are now asking more of their deputies,
dispatchers, jailers and firefighters. The nation is responding with more
money -- but most of it is allocated to federal agencies or first
responders, which include firefighters and emergency medical technicians.

"The sheriffs and deputies are on the front line of this war," said Larry
Medina, the interim executive director of the Oklahoma Sheriffs'
Association. "So far, I know of no additional funding that's come down to
the sheriffs' level as a result of 9/11. This needs to be a two-way street.
They need to recognize the importance of law enforcement."

Training is one big concern -- take the anthrax scares in Jefferson County
late last year. Small-town firefighters weren't ready for that.

"In our part of the country, they are prepared for oil spills and some kind
of hazardous material spill. And this anthrax, it's a weapon," Jefferson
County Sheriff Stanley Barnes said.

"You can carry it home in your clothing and your rural fire departments
aren't equipped for them and my question was, when are we going to get some
special teams? If it would have been a real thing, we probably would have
had 35 to 40 people contaminated."

Sheriff Bruner said calls in Stephens County are up this year over last
year, requiring more attention from deputies. And if a deputy is gone for
whatever reason, forget training, much less elaborate terrorism training.

But it must be done sometime.

"I only have six field deputies and almost 43,000 citizens in the county,"
Bruner said. "So it's real difficult, but due to what happened on 9/11, I
feel like it's very critical to implement every ounce (of training) that I
can."

At the same time, plenty of Oklahoma county jails are overcrowded and
understaffed. One big medical bill incurred by an inmate can knock a county
budget way out of whack. All the while, drug arrests are rising by the week.

Then comes something such as the four Texas escapees: two convicted
murderers and two charged with murder. A 10-day manhunt across southern
Oklahoma didn't come cheap.

A recent battle between the sheriffs and Homeland Security Director Tom
Ridge indicates how complicated things are getting, Tulsa County Sheriff
Stanley Glanz said. A community policing program is getting cut and funds
are being re-directed through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, much
to the sheriffs' chagrin.

The FBI wants more local intelligence, while it backs away from helping
with local investigations because its efforts are needed elsewhere.

Meanwhile, courthouses are big targets that need metal detectors, at the
least. Most don't have them, and even if they did, people to staff them
would be scarce.

Still, Glanz is cautiously optimistic.

"No matter how they do it, we're going to succeed," he said. "But a lot of
local policing agencies are going to have some problems, no matter how they
set it up."

However, seven months is not long to change a society. While sheriffs
complain, they realize patience will pay off as long as Washington has a
long ear for listening. One thing authorities can do while waiting for more
money and resources is what they've done all along: simply pay attention.

"I think it's affected everyone," Comanche County Sheriff Kenny Stradley
said. "It wasn't really running at high peak anyway. Then when that
happened, (Sept. 11 attacks) it sort of set everything back. I think
everyone's feeling the pinch -- and looking over their shoulder."