TASK FORCE AGENTS GO UNDERCOVER TO BATTLE DRUGS

The Multi Agency Crack Enforcement Drug Task Force -- better known as MACE
- -- focuses on Liberty and Long counties.

Bill Kirkendall and Jeff Hein, two agents with the Multi Agency Crack
Enforcement Drug Task Force, had been tracking a suspected Liberty County
drug dealer well over an hour with the help of several undercover agents.

A tip alerted the agents. The suspect was seen making several stops before
heading toward Walthourville along Airport Road.

Uniformed officers from the Hinesville Police Department and Liberty County
Sheriffs Office were summoned for extra security.

All the pieces were in place.

Hein instructed Hinesville Police Office Pat Cochran to make the traffic
stop. The suspect pulled into a gas station and agents swarmed the vehicle,
arrested the suspect and started searching for drugs. Before long, several
bags of marijuana were discovered.

A successful operation -- or was it?

Two weeks later, the same suspect was arrested again. This time he had 38
pieces of crack cocaine.

"People in Hinesville have no idea how this city changes when it gets
dark," said Capt. Wayne Higginbotham, the 47-year-old head of the task
force, known in law enforcement circles as MACE.

Higginbotham is a nine-year veteran of the task force and passionate about
its mission.

MACE focuses on Liberty and Long counties. Funding is based on the latest
census -- Liberty County: 53 percent, Hinesville Police Department: 36
percent and Long County: 11 percent. Federal funds and confiscated cash and
property also go to the task force.

"When the task force seizes cash or property it is used to buy high
technical equipment, vehicles, and even furniture for the office,"
Higginbotham said.

The eight agents assigned to the task force often work undercover. Each is
25 years or older.

The task force is audited periodically by the Criminal Justice Coordinating
Council to insure guidelines are followed. Additional oversight is provided
by the local Task Force Board headed by Keith Moran, chief deputy of
Liberty County, and Thomas Cribbs, a Hinesville Police Department major.

Additional training and support comes from the Army National Guard, the
Georgia Counter Drug Team from Dobbins Air Force Base and the Georgia
Bureau of Investigation.

According to Higginbotham, no task force member has been injured during a
drug raid. But he's concerned that more drug dealers are carrying weapons.

"The age of individuals arrested spans from eight years old through 71,"
said Hein. "The 8-year-old was arrested for dealing marijuana, and the
71-year-old for selling crack cocaine."