Pubdate: Sat, 12 Nov 2005
Source: Florence Morning News, The (SC)
Copyright: 2005 Media General, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.morningnewsonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1525
Author: Charles Tomlinson

NARCOTICS UNIT ALL ABOUT TEAMWORK

When the towns of Lamar and Society Hill decided to form a narcotics 
unit with the larger Darlington Police Department, it wasn't just to 
give the smaller departments more manpower to knock out their towns' 
drug activity.

"I see it as an opportunity to help them, but also to help us" when 
Darlington's narcotics unit needs help, Darlington Police Chief Jay Cox said.

The six-member team targets street-corner drug dealing and works 
undercover informants, Cox said.

And the team doesn't focus on just one place; it weaves itself 
throughout the three municipalities.

Its officers go where the problems are, whether that's Darlington, 
with about 6,700 residents, or Society Hill or Lamar, which have 
nearly one-sixth of Darlington's population.

During its first six weeks, in all three municipalities, the 
narcotics team made 10 arrests, served nine warrants and two search 
warrants, and wrote eight tickets.

The metro narcotics team began when the police chiefs signed 
multijurisdictional agreements just more than seven weeks ago.

The team's biggest benefit has been "cooperation between the three 
towns - pure and simple," Cox said. "It's a team effort, not an 
individual effort."

Lamar Police Chief Mike McDonald said he aims for the unit to clean 
up any drug activity in the municipalities.

"We're going to make the streets and neighborhoods safe for whoever 
that needs to be: the elderly, children," he said.

While the focus of the team is cooperation, that's not just between 
departments, but within them, as well, McDonald said.

"We all work together," he said. "I may assist them as well, but I'll 
stay on the back burner."

Each town has two officers dedicated to the six-member team. Most 
work in the city or town that employs them, but all will gather once 
or twice a month to work in a particular municipality, depending on 
how heavy drug activity has been, Cox said.

One of the team's undercover officers said he can't work in his 
municipality, however, because he's worked in the town for a long 
time and said criminals would too easily recognize him as a police officer.

Lamar and Society Hill offer a big part of their police forces to 
combating the problem, one Lamar's police chief said he's determined to fix.

"It's a small town, and we're working to clean the problem up," McDonald said.
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