Pubdate: Tue, 18 Jun 2002
Source: Picayune Item (MS)
Copyright: 2002 The Picayune Item
Contact:  http://www.picayuneitem.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1309
Author: Associated Press

TIGHTER AIRPORT SECURITY EQUALS MORE HIGHWAY DRUG BUSTS, OFFICIALS SAY

JACKSON (AP) -- Routine traffic stops are turning into drug busts more 
often in Mississippi, an apparent drug-flow change attributed by many law 
officers to tighter airport security.

The latest figures available show law enforcement agencies made 278 drug 
seizures on state highways from Sept. 11 to March 31, compared with 151 in 
the same period the year prior for an 84 percent increase.

The law enforcement agencies recovered 7,352 pounds of cocaine, marijuana 
and methamphetamines from Sept. 11 to March 31, compared with 3,535 pounds 
of cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamines in the same period a year earlier.

"People trying to transport drugs through the air has all but shut down 
since 9-11 because of the security," said James Hawkins, head of the High 
Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task forces in Mississippi.

At Jackson International Airport, there have been two busts since Sept. 11, 
Hawkins said, but none in the past 90 days.

By next year, security at airports across the country will be even tighter. 
Machines that can detect explosives will be installed in airport baggage areas.

"The logical thing on the part of the potential drug smugglers is: Don't 
use the airports. Don't risk getting searched and your luggage getting 
checked," Hawkins said.

Most of the drug seizures on Mississippi highways are being made on the 
interstates -- I-10, I-20, I-55 and I-59, Hawkins said.

The majority of those seizures have been on the east-west corridors, 
Hawkins said.

"Everything coming from the Mexican border going to the East Coast comes 
through here either on I-10 or I-20," Hawkins said. "It's a direct route to 
Atlanta, Philadelphia and everything on the eastern seaboard."

Hawkins said the state is "probably not getting 10 percent of the drugs 
coming through," and there needs to be more focus on the issue.

Some officials believe the FBI's focus on terrorism might translate to an 
increase in drug trafficking and local government corruption on the local 
level.

FBI Director Robert Mueller has proposed shifting more than 500 agents to 
anti-terrorism work from drug interdiction and white-collar crime casework.

"They are robbing Peter to pay Paul," said William J. Johnson, executive 
director of the National Association of Police Organizations. "The drugs 
and white-collar crimes are not going to go away, and local police 
departments are going to have to pick up the slack."

Some fear that because local agencies can't work across state lines, drug 
arrests will drop.

"A lot of these (local) agencies have been using these federal agencies as 
a crutch," said Chester Quarles, a professor of criminology at the 
University of Mississippi who has authored books on terrorism and criminal 
justice. "By losing these assets, certain areas are going to become drug 
dynasties."

"We're going to see corruption soar without the feds being there," Quarles 
said.

Hancock County Sheriff Steve Garber didn't sound distressed by Mueller's 
proposals, but he did acknowledge that his office is crippled in tracking 
crimes that bounce from state to state, and he expressed concern about the 
bureau diminishing its presence.

According to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a Syracuse 
University clearinghouse of federal statistics, the FBI made 38 referrals 
to Mississippi federal prosecutors in 2001 in investigation of official 
corruption.
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