Pubdate: Wed, 10 May 2006
Source: Times-Picayune, The (LA)
Copyright: 2006 The Times-Picayune
Contact:  http://www.nola.com/t-p/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/848
Author: Allen Powell II, West Bank bureau

REGIONAL COPS UNITE TO FIGHT NARCOTICS

Task Force Formed To Handle Upswing

The influx of workers helping rebuild the region after Hurricane 
Katrina is driving a spike in narcotics activity on the West Bank, 
authorities say, prompting four law enforcement agencies to join 
forces to deal with the problem.

The New Orleans Police Department, Plaquemines Parish Sheriff's 
Office, Gretna Police Department and Jefferson Parish Sheriff's 
Office have created a new narcotics task force that will target 
specific areas and offenders in each jurisdiction for intensive 
surveillance and patrolling, NOPD Deputy Superintendent James Scott said.

The task force, financed through $400,000 from the NOPD's Project 
Safe Neighborhoods grant, will consist of about 20 officers taken 
from each agency's narcotics, detective and patrol divisions. The 
officers will conduct raids and surveillance five nights a week at 
several hot spots in each jurisdiction, and also will monitor 
specific suspects officials believe to be involved in trafficking 
narcotics, Scott said.

Officers will be used for the task force on an overtime basis, and 
each officer will be commissioned as a deputy in all of the 
participating departments. The commission allows them to make arrests 
regardless of jurisdiction.

Scott called the task force a unique advantage for officers because 
it would allow them to cross boundaries to pursue those involved in 
the drug trade. In the past, police departments did not have the 
manpower, budgets or authority to actively assist other departments 
in working cases in their home communities.

Scott expects the new cash and focus to allow officers to focus on 
the narcotics activity that has accompanied the West Bank's 
post-Katrina population growth.

"We realize that we have crime crossing over the parish line, 
especially since the storm," said Scott, who added that officers from 
NOPD's Fourth District and the Narcotics Division will participate in 
the task force. "(Parish lines) are like a geographical boundary that 
criminals cross, but we don't cross . . . Any time you dump that many 
officers into an area you're going to see an impact."

Gretna Police Chief Arthur Lawson Jr., said his department has 
partnered with several different law enforcement agencies since 
Hurricane Katrina, and was very intrigued by the level of cooperation 
and freedom the task force offers. Although Gretna has seen a 
decrease in overall crime since the storm, Lawson said narcotics 
activity has been on the rise. About 10 to 15 Gretna police officers 
will be involved on a rotating basis with the task force.

"What we're finding that's happening is that the crime element is 
moving around," Lawson said. "We are dealing with a lot of 
individuals we never dealt with before."

Plaquemines Parish Sheriff I.F. "Jiff" Hingle applauded the joint 
effort as a great way for departments to help fight narcotics 
activity at its source, adding that he believes many of the drugs 
coming into the parish are purchased from one of the other three jurisdictions.

Hingle, who plans to designate three to five officers to the efforts, 
said that despite the destruction that large swatches of Plaquemines 
Parish suffered, there still have been narcotics problems in more 
populated areas and among contractors coming to the city to do work.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee declined to discuss the task force.
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