Pubdate: Tue, 02 Apr 2002 Source: Northwest Florida Daily News (FL) Copyright: 2002 Northwest Florida Daily News Contact: http://www.nwfdailynews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/313 Author: Michael Stewart, Staff Writer DEPUTIES PUTTING A STOP TO POT Last Year, 2,665 Marijuana Plants Were Eradicated In The Three-county Area. Deputies in Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties hacked down 2,665 marijuana plants last year, according to a Florida Department of Law Enforcement report just released. That's an estimated $2.6 million in drug money marijuana growers didn't harvest. "Marijuana is big business," Walton County Sheriff's Department spokesman Bill Price said. The FDLE's annual Domes-tic Marijuana Eradication Program report, just released, puts Santa Rosa County near the top of the list in plants destroyed last year. Santa Rosa sheriff's deputies harvested 2,101 plants in 2001, doubling the previous year's take. In fact, Santa Rosa ranked second in the state in the number of pot plants destroyed, trailing only Miami-Dade officers, who uprooted 2,503 plants. One of the first things Santa Rosa Sheriff Wendell Hall did when he came on board in January 2001 was fill the vacant pilot position in the narcotics unit. "If you've got a good pilot and spotter, you are going to find dope," Hall said of his department's successful year. Deputy Craig Stalcup, a licensed pilot, now flies the county's single-engine Cessna, circling 500 feet above the forest canopy. Stalcup marks the spot with a global-positioning system and calls in ground troops who zero in on the pot plots. "Most of our finds last year were in rural areas," Stalcup said. "This year I hope to concentrate on more residential areas where people are growing it in their back yards." Most serious marijuana growers target remote areas to seed their crops, making it difficult to catch them in the act. Last year, 11 people were arrested in the three-county area and charged with cultivating marijuana. "They spend a minimal amount of time physically present with the crop," Okaloosa Sheriff's Office spokesman Rick Hord said of the reason why more growers aren't arrested. Okaloosa deputies destroyed only 65 plants this year because "growers have gone elsewhere," Hord said of his office's crackdown on dope growers in previous years. The Walton County Sheriff's Department located half as many marijuana plants last year as in 2000, but plans to "employ more aggressive tactics this year" to locate and destroy marijuana plants and arrest offenders. In Santa Rosa County, the marijuana hunt heats up in July, August and September, the months preceding harvest. "The only way to be effective is to be aggressive," Hall said of his resolve to put the pressure on dope growers. Other law enforcement agencies are already fighting the pot war. With 712 square miles of wooded lands known as the "reservation," Eglin Air Force Base is a prime target of marijuana growers. Military police officers at Eglin unearthed 230 marijuana plants Monday morning, chief criminal investigator Homer Godwin said. - --- MAP posted-by: SHeath(DPFFlorida)