Pubdate: Mon, 04 Aug 2003
Source: Daily Citizen, The (Dalton, GA)
Copyright: Daily Citizen 2003
Contact:  http://www.northwestgeorgia.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1929
Author: Cady Van Dolson

METH USE 'OVERWHELMING'

For the second time in as many years, a Whitfield County grand jury has 
said more money and personnel are needed to fight drugs.

"It has been determined that the manufacture, distribution and consumption 
of methamphetamine continues to overwhelm the resources of law 
enforcement," the grand jury for the January 2003 term wrote in a public 
notice published last month in The Daily Citizen. "The toll on our 
resources not only relates to the drug crimes themselves, but to other 
criminal activity associated with the money required to facilitate drug 
activities."

The grand jury "strongly advocates an increase in resource allocation and 
funding for direct law enforcement efforts relating specifically to drug 
crimes.

"We note that not doing so will increase the cost to the community in the 
long run for prosecution, imprisonment, support of resulting dependent 
families and other community services."

The words echo those of a grand jury which in February 2002 wrote an open 
letter to the citizens of the county stating there is an "urgent need, in 
fact a critical need, to increase law enforcement efforts, specifically in 
the area of drug enforcement."

"I'm not surprised," said Greg Deslattes, a member of last year's grand 
jury of the findings by the most recent grand jury.

"There's one thing I can tell you about the local officials - after denying 
things long enough it seems they'll acknowledge it and they think they're 
done."

Local law enforcement officers have differing opinions, some saying that 
additional resources will help while others say that is not the answer by 
itself.

"It takes manpower and money to make (our) cases," said Capt. Rick Swiney 
with the Whitfield County Sheriff's Office. Sheriff Scott Chitwood budgeted 
$40,000 this year for drug purchases, which is how detectives make their 
cases, but the Board of Commissioners changed that to $10,000, officials 
said. In 2001, the agency received $78,000 to use for drug purchases.

"We understand the methamphetamine problem in Whitfield County, and that 
will probably need to be addressed at some point, but that depends on just 
how much money is available," said Mike Babb, chairman of the board of 
commissioners. "They've needed a new jail since 1994 and that's being 
addressed. They've needed new jailers, and I think we added 30-some 
employees to the jail."

This year detectives have to use seized money to supplement their $10,000, 
Maj. John Gibson said. "That's the only way we're operating right now," 
Gibson said. The Dalton Police Department's budget for drug purchases 
increased from $25,000 last year to $75,000 this year.

Both agencies have three detectives plus a supervisor to work on drug 
cases. Neither agency received additional drug detectives this year. Drug 
detectives at both agencies normally work from 1 p.m. until 10 p.m., though 
they often stay later.

Due to budget constraints, sheriff's office detectives are told to take 
time off when they've reached 40 hours, Gibson said. "We can only run the 
unit based on the funding we have for it," he said.

"We're sympathetic that they have budget constraints," said Warren 
Coppedge, foreman of this session's grand jury.

"It's not an easy problem." But, Coppedge said, "More personnel would 
enable agencies to have drug detectives working around the clock, seven 
days a week.

"Because the animal feeds at night, the officers have to work at night. 
(Officers) don't need to be told they have to work for nothing or be told 
they have to come back tomorrow and hope the drug dealers haven't sold all 
their drugs and made all their methamphetamine." The grand jury said it was 
"concerned at the number of domestic violence cases, many of which are 
related to drug problems."

The grand jury specifically recommended:

* The allocation of additional funds to "facilitate" drug cases.

* An increase in the number of detectives authorized to work in drug 
investigations.

* Creation of an online database among pharmacies, hospital emergency rooms 
and doctors "with respect to listing information to ferret out prescription 
abuse."

A community issue Still, solving the drug problem is not a money issue but 
a community issue, Deslattes said, and several detectives agree. Although 
more detectives and more money would result in more drug arrests, the 
detectives say arrests alone are not the solution.

"It's not going to solve the problem," Sgt. Tom Phillips with the Dalton 
Police Department's criminal investigations division said. "It's supply and 
demand.

Unless their wants change, it's not going to be solved." "It's more than a 
matter of money," Deslattes agreed. "It's finding better ways. They have to 
get people to understand that it's everybody's problem by taking 
distinctive action to show that is the case." That action could include a 
multi-county task force or finding government money to fund the drug units, 
Deslattes said.

"You sit there and tell yourself that if it's still out there I haven't 
done everything I can do," he said. Last year's grand jury presented the 
idea of a Government, Industry, Citizen Task Force to the county commission 
because each aspect affects the others, Deslattes said.

"All you have to do is sit down and look at what the county has done with 
that idea," he said. "Nothing. If there are serious drug issues in this 
community there are serious drug issues in industry as well. Why don't we 
start acting like we're all together?"

A community awareness program and neighborhood involvement also are ways to 
attack the drug trade, Deslattes said.

"Let's go without softball fields," he said. "I read earlier this year that 
we came across $1 million-plus in revenue to the county which they're going 
to use to put more softball fields in.

"Wouldn't it be great if 10 percent of that went to fund some serious 
undercover drug work in the county?" Ball fields, at $200,000, are just one 
of the areas the commissioners decided to fund with the money, and some 
citizens see them as a key in keeping youth away from drugs.

Other areas funded by the commission are $350,000 for a highway maintenance 
barn, $275,000 for the county pension plan, $155,000 for road paving 
materials, $220,000 for other Public Works Department projects, $93,901 for 
the county's contingency fund and $15,000 to install traffic lights at the 
intersection of Haig Mill Road and the North Bypass.

Commissioners said at the time the money was discovered that they didn't 
want to use it on items such as personnel that would require additional 
funding in later years.

"I'm sure there are going to be lots of places where people think we could 
spend more money," Babb said then. "But we've got to be careful that we 
don't spend it on things that have repeatable costs.

"You can hire a deputy, but then you've got to put him in a car, provide 
him with a radio and other expenses.  And his salary would be a recurring 
expense. Anything that requires people is a repeating cost."

Treatment One way to address the heart of the drug problem is to give drug 
users treatment, or else increasing the number of arrests won't have any 
effect, officials said.

"You can't keep doing the same thing expecting different results, and 
that's what we're doing," Dalton Police Chief James Chadwick said. "What 
we've been doing, arresting people, hasn't been working, and it isn't now."

Without treatment, addicts start using drugs again once they've completed 
their prison sentences, Chadwick said.

But treatment isn't the answer for everyone, officials said.

"I've seen people go through required treatment, and they still do drugs," 
a detective with the sheriff's office said. "You can't make someone rehab."

The Conasauga Drug Court, established just over one year ago, features a 
two-year program consisting of group meetings with the Drug Court team - 
law enforcement, probation and court officials - weekly court appearances 
to see how the participants are doing and participation in programs such as 
Narcotics Anonymous.

"We think (Drug Court) is one of the most effective (ways to address) the 
drug problem," Coppedge said.

"This court, operated by Judge Jack Partain, has functioned well and has a 
comparatively high success rate when compared to other drug abuse 
'solutions,'" the grand jury public notice stated. "Funding remains a 
problem. Every endeavor to keep this court process active should be made, 
as a failure to do so is far more costly in dollars and in the human toll 
on families and children."

Seventy-seven percent of those enrolled in Drug Court stay with the 
program, compared to the 40-60 percent who stay with other counseling or 
treatment programs, said George Shirilla, Drug Court coordinator.

"People are making a commitment to the program," Shirilla said. "This is 
not saying, 'I'm going to get out of jail free and hang around this and not 
do anything.' It has accountability and it encourages responsibility."

Drug users usually are required to participate in treatment programs as 
part of their probation, but the outcome depends on the mind-set of the 
user, officials said.

"There are people who have gone through that program who want help and it's 
been successful," Phillips said. "There are people who have gone through it 
because it's part of their probation or sentence and they don't care 
anymore about getting help. They just want to stay out of jail."

Even if law enforcement resources are increased and treatment is added, 
nothing will change unless society is changed, Chadwick said. "We're going 
to have to raise up a generation of kids who don't use drugs, and that 
hasn't happened yet," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens