Pubdate: Tue, 05 Jul 2005 Source: Ledger, The ( FL ) Copyright: 2005 The Ledger Contact: http://www.theledger.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/795 Author: Gabrielle Finley Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) Fighting Crime DRUG FORCE FACES CUTS The HIDTA Program, Used To Shut Down Meth Labs And Bust Drug Rings, Might Lose Its $157,000 In Federal Funding LAKELAND -- A Polk County drug task force that works to shut down meth labs and bust drug rings will be no more if President Bush's administration has its way. Bush administration officials have said the federal program that funds High Intensive Drug Trafficking Areas ranging from large cities to small towns, including areas like Polk County, has become bloated. "My fear is that these ( local law enforcement ) agencies aren't going to be able to afford to have these officers on the task force," said Lt. Steve Ward of the Polk County Sheriff's Office. Proposed cuts will slash more than half of the $227 million federal program's budget, including the $157,000 budget for Polk. In 1990, HIDTA task forces enlisted federal agents and local law enforcement officers in New York, Miami, Houston, Los Angeles and the U.S. Southwestern border to combat drug organizations. Now more than 30 cities, small towns, and other areas are under the HIDTA program. The cut is scheduled for Oct. 1, the start of the federal fiscal year. Critics said the cut will drain resources and shut down operations in mid-sized regions, like Central Florida, and small Midwest towns overflowing with methamphetamine and other drug activity. The cuts would most likely push Polk County law enforcement officers off the task force, officials here said. The first HIDTA offices created would remain funded under the proposal. Central Florida HIDTA combats a lot of the nation's drug trade in the counties it covers: Polk, Hillsborough, Orange, Pinellas, Osceola, Volusia and Seminole, said Terry Fernandez, director of Central Florida HIDTA. Most of its $2.5 million annual budget pays overtime for the 120 police officers who work with the task force. "HIDTA's intent was to keep law enforcement officers working longer to keep drugs off the streets," Fernandez said. "We'd lose the vast majority of them. "We've ruptured that pipeline of narcotics that goes to the street." More than half of the $157,000 budget for Polk County HIDTA pays overtime for police officers, Fernandez said. Lakeland, Winter Haven, Haines City and Lake Wales detectives, the Polk County Sheriff's Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the FBI make up the Polk County HIDTA. The information shared between the agencies is "unprecedented," said Lt. Ward of the Sheriff's Office. Last May, the office arrested methamphetamine traffickers in Frostproof and seized more than $1 million in assets, Ward said. Communication about possible drug cases in Polk would stop if HIDTA funding is taken away and smaller agencies would have to work drug cases by themselves, Ward said. The proposal would also move the HIDTA program out of the Office of National Drug Control Policy to the U.S. Department of Justice. The switch wouldn't work well, Ward said. "They have a different way of doing things." To receive funding, detectives would have to present proposals to a committee each time they wanted to stop drug traffickers, Ward said. Florida representatives and other officials like Jim McDonough, director of the Florida Office of Drug Control, are going toe to toe with Washington to keep funding. "I'm all for HIDTA staying in Florida. I would be short of honest if I said it wouldn't have an impact," McDonough said Thursday. "Whenever you take away resources it gets tougher," he said. "But we always adapt strategy to meet our resources." Whether the Office of National Drug Control Policy or the Department of Justice takes over HIDTA is not the issue, McDonough said. "Bottom line is that HIDTA is important to our efforts no matter who's running it in Washington."