Pubdate: Wed, 29 Mar 2006 Source: Asheville Citizen-Times (NC) Copyright: 2006 Asheville Citizen-Times Contact: http://www.citizen-times.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/863 FORUM LOOKS AT WAYS TO IMPROVE STRATEGIES IN COMBATING DRUGS ENKA -- Analysts at the SBI crime lab in Skyland are pulling fingerprints from evidence collected two years ago. They're scanning drugs from investigations of eight months ago.The lab's backlog persists, agent Brian Delmas said, despite an expanded facility where technicians have worked for about a month. Until five of its 12 full-time technicians finish training and two more are hired, the State Bureau of Investigation won't fill its new space. "We're basically at half staff," Delmas said. Delmas explained the delays in investigations to a crowd of law enforcement officials gathered at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College's Enka campus Tuesday afternoon for a drug- enforcement conference. He told them they could help by lifting prints and sending those to the lab instead of, say, a beer can with somebody's prints on it. The seminars offered a chance for federal, state and local law enforcement to compare problems and share solutions. Advice on curbing drug dealing included techniques to recruit a whole community in the effort. Madison County Sheriff John Ledford said drug busts there have started with tips from school counselors, utility meter-readers, even farm-supply merchants who flagged bulk sales of common methamphetamine ingredients. Meth took centerstage at the forum, where authorities described a growing replacement of home-cooked meth with stronger varieties imported from Mexico. They also spoke of solutions to urban drug dealing. Gene Bell, executive director of the Asheville Housing Authority, showed photos of structural changes in public housing to eliminate spots for dealers to loiter: brighter streetlamps, gates blocking stairwells, posts along streets to keep vehicles from pulling off for deals. And when they shoot out the lamps, climb through the bars and pull the posts from the ground? Bell orders repairs and improvements made and hopes persistence pays off. Asheville City Councilman Carl Mumpower, an organizer of Tuesday's seminars, advised law enforcement to find people like Bell -- "exhausted, frustrated community leaders" -- and partner with them. There are plenty of people with a stake in the fight. "There is a building momentum," Mumpower said after the conference, "to fight back against hard drugs in Western North Carolina." - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin