DRUGS AND BORDERS: TEXAS SIDE MUST WORK IN ARKANSAS TO BE EFFECTIVE

Sometimes living on a state line is a curse rather than a virtue.

Texas-side Police Chief Danny Alexander found that out recently when Texas
cut grant funding for the city's narcotics task force.

Why? Because, to be effective, the task force must share resources across
the state line with its counterpart county in Arkansas.

The Criminal Justice Division of the Texas governor's office has told
Alexander that his department no longer is eligible for grants from the
state because it doesn't operate its narcotics task force in the
multicounty, multijurisdictional manner as prescribed by law.

The problem is that the Texas side has worked closely with another county
in trying to rid the area's streets of illegal drugs, but that
county--Miller County--is in Arkansas, which makes the partnership invalid
in the state's view. To restore funding, the Texas-side police department
was told it would have to partner with an adjoining county in Texas.

Which is understandable from a financial perspective. Texas obviously wants
to put its taxpayers' money to work within the state and not across state
lines. Yet this decision ignores Texarkana's unique geographical position
and, as Alexander told the state, the illegal drug trade in Texarkana
doesn't stop on either side of the two states' border.

It is possible that the folks down in Austin just don't grasp this concept.
Certainly it would make little sense for towns and cities deeper inside the
state to be expending money across a state line when the drug connection
might be tenuous at best. But that isn't the case in Texarkana.

Criminal activity in Arkansas along its border with Texas often spills over
the line, and that means the two states, two counties and two cities
involved have to work together as a cohesive unit. Even though laws may
differ from state to state, the emphasis remains on eliminating the illegal
drug trade in the area. And that means from both sides of the line, not
just one.

For most cities in Texas, the state government's all-Texas approach to
granting funds for narcotics task forces doesn't pose a significant
problem. But in places like Texarkana, which must share and dedicate
crime-fighting resources where they will do the most good, the law fails to
acknowledge how intertwined the two cities are irrespective of their
boundaries. As fiscally sensible as it is to expect Texas' money to be
spent in Texas, it's nonsense to assume the local illegal drug trade stops
at the state's border.