Pubdate: Sun, 12 May 2002 Source: Daily Iberian, The (LA) Copyright: 2002 . The Daily Iberian. Contact: http://www.iberianet.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1899 Author: Beverly Corbell CRIME IS DOWN, DRUG ARRESTS ARE UP Crime statistics in general are down, but drug arrests are up. Some experts see a direct correlation. In 2001 an estimated 14.8 million Americans - 6.7 percent of the population over 12 - used illegal drugs, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy. The number has steadily increased since 1992. While arrests for illegal drug use are up, serious violent crimes in the U.S. declined from 1999 to 2000, from 2.5 million to 2.2 million, according to the National Crime Victimization Survey. The FBI's Uniform Crime Reports show that homicide rates declined from 570,000 to 550,000 for the same time period. In a reverse trend, arrests for illegal drug use rose from 1.53 million to 1.58 million from 1999 to 2000 nationwide according to the Drug Enforcement Authority. In the Teche Area, last year the New Iberia Police Department and the sheriff's offices of St. Mary, Iberia and St. Martin parishes reported an increase of 20.6 percent in drug arrests over the year 2000. Every person booked into Iberia, St. Martin or St. Mary parish jails - for any reason - is tested for two drugs, marijuana and alcohol. Judge Gerard B. Wattigny, who oversees the 16th Judicial District drug courts, said that a recent study of prisoners in Iberia, St. Martin and St. Mary parish jails showed that drugs have a direct effect on other crimes. "We found that 70 to 75 percent were positive for cocaine and marijuana, the only two drugs we test for. This verified for us that most of crime is committed by people who are on drugs," he said. Iberia Parish Sheriff Sid Hebert says many petty crimes, such as theft, are committed by people are looking for money for drugs. "The irony is that drug use tends to contribute to all types of crime," said Hebert. "We had increases in burglaries and theft, and we're finding the same amount of drugs in specific categories. The paradox is that violent crimes are way down, even in New York City, where the crime rate is the lowest in history." Sgt. Chad Hazelwood, spokesman for the New Iberia Police Department, says there is a lot of illegal drug use in New Iberia, which increases some violent crimes, but police pressure is helping to keep dealers off the streets and drug-related crimes in check. "Drugs plague our neighborhoods and people steal to support their habits," Hazelwood said. "We have a lot of shootings from bad drug deals. But if we keep the (arrest) numbers up on drugs, we keep other crimes down." The head of the criminal justice department at South Louisiana Community College in New Iberia, Andy Horton, agreed and said tougher drug laws also keep crime rates down. "Judges and DAs and police officers are not playing around," he said. "That's one reason the crime rate has done down. People don't want to go to prison, no matter what. We want to be able to get every ounce of drugs off the street. There's no way we can do that, but taking drugs off the street is helping the crime rate." Both the NIPD and the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office have conducted a variety of stings and undercover operations in recent years, focusing on both users and pushers. Both agencies work with other local law enforcement in fighting illegal drug use, including the Drug Enforcement Authority, which recently expanded its Lafayette headquarters from two to seven agents specifically to help local law enforcement. The problem of illegal drug use is not going away anytime soon, said Jim Harrison, head of the DEA for South Louisiana. Methamphetamine, the newest serious drug to hit this area, is getting easier to make and harder to detect, he said. "The meth labs nowadays don't put off the toxic odors of the labs of old," said Harrison at an April meeting of the Louisiana Narcotics Officers Association in New Iberia. Within the last two months, about 50 meth labs were discovered statewide, he said, while only eight labs were discovered in all the previous years. "It's going to be an epidemic," U.S. Attorney David Dugas, a New Iberia native, told the Baton Rouge Press Club in March. Keeping the epidemic from becoming a reality can only happen if the demand dries up, said Mike Vidallier, who heads up adult drug court for Iberia Parish. "I don't feel the work of law enforcement is futile," Vidallier said, "but I do feel it's sort of a self-perpetuating situation. You can shut down the dealers and lock people up but they'll be replaced because the profit motive is there. And if a person is truly addictive, they will move mountains (to get drugs)." It's a weakness of the human condition that causes drug abuse, but it can be overcome, said Iberia Parish coroner Dr. James Falterman. "As long as you have drugs and you have people you will have people using drugs," said Falterman. "What we have to do is educate people. That slows down a certain percentage and when we treat them as addictions we slow down a certain percentage. We slow down less of a percentage with incarceration." - --- MAP posted-by: Ariel