Pubdate: Fri, 03 Jun 2005
Source: Herald-Dispatch, The (Huntington, WV)
Copyright: 2005 The Herald-Dispatch
Contact:  http://www.hdonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1454
Author: Curtis Johnson

EFFORTS TO COMBAT DRUG TRADE TO EXPAND

Cabell Officials Explore Countywide Unit; Police Add Drug Force Member

HUNTINGTON -- Local governments showed the first signs of beefing up 
drug-fighting resources Thursday in the wake of the May 22 shooting deaths 
of four area teenagers.

At least two Cabell County Commissioners indicated Thursday morning they 
will support allocating interest monies to help establish a countywide drug 
unit, as the Huntington Police Department said it has added a fifth member 
to its local drug force.

Cabell County Sheriff's Department officials believe the developments are 
first steps in spearheading a consolidated street-level drug unit focused 
on erasing drug trafficking and violence from Huntington's streets, along 
with smaller communities and neighborhoods throughout the county.

Such strategies have been successful Charleston and Chillicothe, Ohio.

All the plans came as local detectives left for Detroit on Thursday 
afternoon in search of any information leading to the arrests of those 
responsible for the killings of four area teenagers along Charleston 
Avenue. Huntington Police Capt. Steve Hall said detectives have not 
determined whether drugs were involved in last month's fatal shootings, but 
investigators believe a drug dealer from Detroit could have pulled the trigger.

Chief Deputy Jim Scheidler, of the Cabell County Sheriff's Department, told 
commissioners Thursday that his group will be able to join with the State 
Police and other departments to quickly respond to any drug leads.

"I will assure you that you will reap the benefits of what I intend to do," 
he said. "There's a lot more (drugs) in this county than people realize. 
What I would like to be able to do is to establish an independent unit to 
where we effectively, right then, on a daily basis, arrest people."

Scheidler and Sheriff Kim Wolfe said their ultimate plan is to coordinate a 
street-level drug unit that consolidates resources from state, county and 
local law enforcement agencies.

Members of the Sheriff's Department and commission said the county drug 
unit is not a knee-jerk reaction to the May 22 fatal shootings, but simply 
a case of added manpower that recently became available.

Scheidler told commissioners three deputies recently graduating the State 
Police Academy and another officer finishing his day-to-day duties at 
Cabell-Midland High School will free the resources to form such a drug unit.

Scheidler and Wolfe would not release many specifics about their 
multi-agency strategy because they are still meeting with those federal, 
state and municipal departments to coordinate items including manpower and 
funding.

They hope to finalize details and announce their plan next week.

Hall had not heard of the county's intentions Thursday afternoon, but said 
any help is welcome eliminating the city's drug trade.

"Obviously, it's needed or we wouldn't have the violent crime that we 
have," he said. "At this stage in the game, it's all about providing safety 
for our citizens. If that helps ensure the safety of our citizens, then God 
bless them and I'm all for it."Hall said his local department has added one 
officer to its city drug unit Thursday, and named Sgt. J.T. Combs as the 
new commander leading the special force.

Cabell County took the first step toward supporting its portion of the 
countywide drug unit Thursday when Commissioners Bob Bailey and Scott Bias 
indicated they support reallocating the $20,873 in interest monies to the 
Sheriff's budget.

That money has been withheld from the law enforcement budget since March 
2004, when the previous Commission voted not to allocate the funds until 
the Sheriff provided information as to how it would be spent.

Bailey said the creation of a county drug unit now makes it easy for him to 
support reallocating the funds because he knows it will be put to good use.

"If you know anything about a drug unit, you know you're going to have to 
have buy money," Bailey said. "It takes money in order to run a drug unit, 
and the way the drug problem is in Huntington and Cabell County, I think we 
should help them anyway we can. It's their money and let's give it to them."

Similar multi-agencies have helped fight drug trafficking in Charleston and 
Chillicothe, Ohio.

Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper said his county's Metro 
Drug Unit is operated by the Charleston Police Department, but has the 
cooperation of the county Sheriff's Department, the State Police and about 
seven smaller municipal agencies.

Kanawha's Commission contributes about $35,000 annually to the metro unit, 
and Carper said he credits the cooperation with helping local official 
chase dealers from town to town.

"The bad guys, the drug dealers, win when the police don't cooperate," he 
said. "You don't want to hamper the police by some artificial line. That's 
why it works so well.

"Drug dealers move around. They don't care about breaking laws, so they 
don't care about selling drugs in one county, then in the city and back in 
the county again," Carper added.

About two hours north in Chillicothe, Ohio, police credit the U.S. 23 Major 
Crimes Task Force with eradicating out-of-town drug dealers from their 
streets and communities.

Maj. Jim Calhoun, director of the task force, said his group aggressively 
pursues confidential tips and looks for ways to initiate normal traffic 
stops for anything from burned out tail lights, to failure to signal and 
speeding.

Police dogs will then often find drugs in the vehicle with connections to 
Detroit, Columbus or Dayton.

Calhoun said the force nabbed more than 300 drug cases, most of which 
involved cocaine, during its first year of operation in 1998. That was in 
comparison to about 27 cases conducted by a special investigation unit in 1997.

In 2004, Calhoun said his force conducted about 350 cases and was beginning 
to notice a decline in cocaine activity.

"Actually, we see (drug dealers) moving just outside of our jurisdiction to 
elude our task force, but even that's not working," he said.

That's because Calhoun said the force is constantly looking for new 
agencies to join the task force.

Currently the U.S. 23 task force consists of 22 county and local agencies, 
along with 12 federal and state agencies supporting efforts.