TROUBLE HITS HEGE COUNTRY

As much as Davidson County Sheriff Gerald K. Hege loves the limelight, he
must have hated the glare that seared down on him Wednesday with the
announcement that three of his officers were among six people accused of
participating in a drug ring.

This is the sheriff, after all, who campaigned on a get-tough-on-crime
platform and decorated his office like a military bunker while strutting
around in commando-style jumpsuits, gun ever-present on hip - even in
church. This is the sheriff who burnished his gung-ho, over-the-top image
this month by sending out a personal Christmas card depicting himself
holding what appears to be Osama bin Laden's head while waving a bloody
sword and proclaiming "Happy Ramadan!"

Cracking down on crime, it appears, involves more than flamboyant gestures
such as painting jail cells pink or having inmates tell their stories on a
cable show where the sheriff-host comes across as a fusion of Darth Vader
and Dr. Laura. It does little good to shoot out the tires of a fleeing
suspect - another controversial Hege episode - if you fail to keep your
sights on what's happening with the boys back in the bunker, too.

The indictments against his officers are an especially bitter - and
damaging - pill because of the nature of the charges. Sgts. William Rankin,
Douglas Westmoreland and Lt. David Scott Woodall - all members of the vice
and narcotics unit - are accused of conspiring to distribute a form of
cocaine, marijuana, anabolic steroids and the hallucinogenic drug Ecstacy
over the past year. Like many other sheriffs around the state, Hege has
focused on illegal drugs as a particularly virulent scourge - and rightly
so. Whether it's Davidson, Rowan or any other county, drug trafficking is a
cancerous blight on communities, driving up crime, destabilizing
neighborhoods and wasting the lives of those lured by the promise of a
quick fix or easy money.

To have members of the law enforcement community indicted as participants
in the trade shows anew how pervasive the drug menace remains. Also, while
the great proportion of men and women in blue - or commando black -
shouldn't be judged by the actions of a few, when one crosses the line, it
undermines the credibility and authority of others. Those others are often
frontline forces in the battle against substance abuse who speak to
schools, youth groups or community associations where establishing trust is
a key part of policing.

In a 1996 interview, Hege noted that his zero-tolerance take on crime was
intended to send a message to would-be violators. The message, in short,
was keep out of Davidson County. "We're cleaning it up," he vowed. Five
years later, it looks like there's still some work to be done in Hege Country.