Pubdate: Fri, 09 Sep 2005
Source: Princeton Times, The (WV)
Copyright: 2005 The Princeton Times
Contact:  http://www.bdtonline.com/ptonline/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3692
Author: Tammie Toler
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone)

THE NEED TO FEED THE HABIT ...

Police: Understanding Supply And Demand Key In Battle On Drugs

Editor's note: This is the second story focusing on the Southern Regional 
Drug and Violent Crime Task Force, a federally-funded group of specialized 
law enforcement officers charged with taking drugs off the streets of Four 
Seasons Country. The profile on the task force is part of an ongoing 
Princeton Times series titled Dealing with Drugs, focusing on the local 
issues of illegal substance abuse and trade, the crimes they often spark 
and the ways local authorities and citizens are fighting their presence.

PRINCETON - While the battle to keep illegal drugs off the streets takes 
complex turns and dangerous detours, its origin in Four Seasons Country is 
as basic as simple laws of marketing and economics, Southern Regional Drug 
and Violent Crime Task Force Coordinator J. Centeno said recently.

It's all about supply and demand.

"As long as there's someone who wants to do the drugs, there will be 
someone to sell them," Centeno said.

The officers on the task force, currently funded through federal grants and 
staffed by local law enforcement agencies, are armed with some of the best 
equipment and most intense training available to fight drugs' surge into 
the area. The investigators set their sights on disrupting the trade of the 
drugs by targeting the suppliers, but until demand disappears, the illicit 
enterprises will continue, Centeno said.

"Unfortunately, law enforcement is only equipped to target the suppliers, 
not the consumers," he said. "The supply, we can identify. We can target 
it, and we can dismantle it. But, the demand, we cannot."

Part of the problem, Centeno said, may be the "politically correct" 
attitude many people have adopted toward addiction and drug use. Too many 
view addiction as an illness or a soft problem, "when it is actually the 
root of the drug problem," he said.

As the situation currently stands, Centeno said every time his officers 
arrest one drug dealer, one or more take his or her place almost 
immediately because there are consumers in the area willing to pay for the 
wares the illegal traders push.

Locally, task force officers have seized marijuana, cocaine, crack and 
heroine in 2005, but the drugs of choice are still the prescription 
painkillers, Centeno said.

As of last week, investigators had purchased 650 units of OxyContin, 
Lortab, hydrocodone, hydromorphone and more in controlled buys, and they 
had seized an estimated 1,500 more as part of the 312 investigations opened 
up to that point, the coordinator said.

It is a common trend in areas where incomes run slim and "people of low 
income feel forced to sell their own prescription medicine for money," 
Centeno said.

While specific locations were not identified, he said the task force is 
focusing on several sites of high drug trafficking activity in McDowell and 
Mercer counties.

"We have the best type of officers who work in a high-stress and very 
demanding job," Centeno said of the six officers from the Bluefield and 
Princeton city police departments, West Virginia State Police, and Mercer, 
McDowell and Wyoming county sheriff's departments.

Although the covert officers' jurisdiction includes the three counties in 
which the task force is operational, Centeno said they are deputized 
throughout the state to assist in criminal investigations or track targets.

In order to break up the drug-trading organizations, also referred to as 
DTOs, the officers must infiltrate the drug culture, putting themselves in 
harm's way and often creating an internal turmoil, Centeno said.

"Inside us, there is always the debate of good vs. evil, right vs. wrong, 
and we have to always try to make the right decisions," he said. "In my 
mind, I'm always aware, 'Although I have to appear to be a bad guy, I 
cannot be a bad guy.'

Plus, the officers constantly must guard against being discovered as 
members of law enforcement while conducting the investigations as safely 
and quickly as possible.

"We work with the most dysfunctional parts of society," Centeno said.

Task force personnel do engage in controlled drug sales or purchases, but 
only with the intent of apprehending a suspect, he emphasized.

To do that, he said the Department of Justice provides money dedicated "to 
do nothing but buy or remove drugs," once investigators receive evidence a 
person is interested in selling the substances.

Occasionally, the officers are approached by someone interested in 
purchasing drugs and open an investigation on the demand side of the trade. 
Then, the task force must obtain permission from the Department of Justice 
to sell the drugs in a controlled situation, and officers are not allowed 
to let the suspect leave the scene or actually ingest the drugs before 
making an arrest, Centeno explained.

"We are actually not selling the drugs. We do it with the purpose of 
finding the people who want to purchase drugs to sell," he said.

Sometimes, the extent of interaction between the investigators and their 
suspects is difficult for local citizens or even family members to 
understand or explain.

"I've heard people said that police officers are the ones selling the 
drugs. People have told my wife they've seen me doing drugs or hanging out 
with drug dealers," he said. "She can't tell them, 'Oh, he's working.'"

Even in situations of controlled buys or sales, Centeno said the task force 
and its officers are held strictly accountable to both the federal 
departments that fund the organization and the parent agencies that formed it.

"All the operations are reported every month to the Department of Justice 
and to a board of directors that scrutinize every operation and expense of 
the task force," he said.

Even with the difficulties and hardships, work on a task force that takes 
drugs out of distribution is rewarding, Centeno said.

The officers' job is to hold criminals responsible for their illegal acts, 
but sometimes the arrests offer a chance to change lives for the better, he 
said, especially when very young people are involved.

"Teen Challenge is full of stories that would break your heart," Centeno 
said, referring to a local rehabilitation program for young men or teens 
addicted to drugs. "Many times, they were waiting for that time, when they 
were busted and sent to jail to change."

Occasionally, the officers wait years to see the results of their work, he 
added, saying that the work makes sense when he sees someone he arrested 
years later, when they look better, have gotten a job or reunited with 
their families.

The rewards are also bittersweet at times, Centeno said.

"We see children in a family that are basically trapped. Mommy and Daddy 
are heavily involved in drugs and are basically neglecting or abusing the 
children," he said. In those cases, investigators are forced to remove the 
child from his or her home and family in order to "give the opportunity to 
the child to function, not being neglected, not being abused."

"With only six drug task force officers, we can't tend to all the demand 
immediately," Centeno said, asking for understanding and assistance from 
the public. More officers, funding and support would also help, he said.

"Criticism is good, as long as it's constructive," he said. "We need their 
patience. We need their cooperation, but more importantly, we need their 
involvement."

He encouraged residents in Mercer, McDowell or Wyoming counties to contact 
the drug task force or local authorities to report suspected drug 
trafficking. The more information available, the better, Centeno said.

A license plate number, a photo or videotape would also be valuable to any 
investigation, he said, but he cautioned citizens to remain out of harm's 
way, even while attempting to assist the police or improve a neighborhood.

The drug task force anonymous tip line is 327-DRUGS, and Centeno said 
residents may also provide information online through the West Virginia 
State Police Tip Line at www.wvstatepolice.com or "Every little bit of information helps," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman