COASTAL ANTI-DRUG TEAM SEES SHORTFALL

COOS BAY - Methamphetamine has become the scourge of Oregon's south
coast. The illegal drug gives users a high they think they cannot live
without, but also pushes them toward increasingly bizarre and violent
behavior.

Local law enforcement officials say more and more small meth labs are
popping up in rural areas along the south coast as enforcement efforts
have pushed manufacturers out of Lane County and Northern California.

At the same time, officials say, more meth from mega-labs south of the
border is finding its way to the south coast, pushing down prices and
putting more methamphetamine on the streets.

Records show that since 1999, south coast drug-related property crimes
are up 300 percent and drug-related person-to-person crimes are up 500
percent. South coast police agencies closed only two meth labs last
year but have shut down 14 so far this year.

Given that, officials say, is this the time to be talking about
shutting down the area's first line of defense against drug crimes,
the South Coast Interagency Narcotics Team.

Sgt. Dan Looney, the team's coordinator, doesn't advocate shutting
down operations. But he says a public dialogue on the question is
important because if a pending funding crisis isn't resolved, the team
is going to disappear.

"We have enough funds to go roughly through July of 2002," says
Looney, a sheriff's deputy who has headed the 13-year-old team since
1997. "After that, if they don't figure out a different way to make up
our shortfall, we're out of business."

The team's deficit is about $175,000 per year - about half the annual
cost of operation. It has four full-time employees and rents an office
in the Oregon State Police building in Coos Bay.

Looney and Laurie Kreutzer, the team's administrative assistant, blame
the shortfall on state Ballot Measure 3, which was passed by voters in
the November 2000 general election. The measure set up new guidelines
for the use of goods and cash seized by police agencies during drug
investigations. In the past, agencies such as the South Coast
Interagency Narcotics Team have relied heavily on such seizures to
cover their costs of operation.

Ballot Measure 3 halted such seizures until after an accused is
convicted. But the change that has hurt the south coast team the most
is a requirement that all property seizure proceeds, except for
administrative costs, be spent on drug treatment.

Seized drug money and revenue from the sale of "drug cars" once made
up about half the the team's revenue. A continuing federal grant has
made up the other half. None of the 17 participating south coast law
enforcement agencies has helped pay for the program.

The new rules went into effect last December and no drug property has
been seized on the south coast since then. Looney says the costs
involved in property seizures - such as towing and storing vehicles -
simply wouldn't have been worth the effort.

Since then, the team has been operating on the annual federal grant
and some reserve funds. But those reserves are dwindling.

For the past two months, Looney and law enforcement leaders on the
SCINT board of directors, have been talking to any groups that will
listen about the team, its past successes, and the threat it faces.
Since its inception in 1988, records show, SCINT work has resulted in
2,840 arrests and the seizure of drugs with a street value of $125
million.

Looney says the team's greatest value is that it has resources for
handling drug investigations that no single agency could muster. The
participating agencies provide manpower that can be pooled to work on
cases that often involve multiple communities and sometimes cross
county and state lines, he says.

"There is no single agency in the economic times we have now that can
afford to do a large-scale investigation into narcotics trafficking,"
he says.

And if the South Coast Interagency Narcotics Team disappears because
of lack of funding.

"As soon as the dopers - the drug users and manufacturers - find out,
we're going to see a rise in (meth) labs like you can't even believe,"
Looney says.

And Kreutzer predicts that with more drugs will come more thefts and
violent crime.

The funding problem has been the topic of a number community meetings
already and two more are scheduled this month. But Looney says the
team and local law enforcement leaders are asking the public for ideas
on how to solve the problem. So far, no permanent fix has
materialized, he says.

Coos County Commissioner Nikki Whitty has been trying to help solve
the team's funding problem. "I think it would be terrible to lose
them," she says.

She's concentrating her efforts on trying to raise $150,000 to help
support the team during the next budget year while permanent funding
arrangements can be made.

She plans to talk with other Coos County commissioners, and with
county commissioners in Douglas and Curry counties, about using state
economic development funds to support the team.

The idea is based on the premise that new businesses aren't going to
want to locate in an area where drug problems and crime are rampant.

Bay Area Hospital has already pledged $20,000 to the team, and Whitty
says she would like to see other public agencies step forward.

As for a permanent solutions, some of the ideas on the table include
commitments for continuing funding from participating law enforcement
agencies, or forming a special taxing district, which would require
voter approval. Whitty says only a minimal property tax rate would be
needed to provide the funding that the team needs.

SOUTH COAST INTERAGENCY NARCOTICS TEAM

Mission: To provide assistance for 17 police agencies from Reedsport to
Brookings in investigating and prosecuting drug cases.

Meetings to discuss funding crisis:

Reedsport - 7 p.m. Tuesday, Reedsport High School auditorium

Coquille - 6:30 p.m. Nov. 27, Lions Club meeting, Colleen's
Restaurant, Public invited.