Pubdate: Sun, 3 Feb 2008 Source: Jackson Sun News (TN) Copyright: 2008 The Jackson Sun Contact: http://www.jacksonsun.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1482 Author: Nicholas Beadle COUNCIL CONSIDERS FUNDS FOR OFFICERS Officials May Transfer More Than $100k to the Police Department to Hire 13 New Officers The Jackson City Council on Tuesday will consider transferring more than $100,000 to the police department to hire 13 new officers during the final months of this fiscal year. The budget amendments, which spring from recommendations of a city crime task force, would send five new officers to the city-county Metro Narcotics Unit. The task force recommended that unit receive an almost $1 million total boost in personnel and resources. It was the group's main proposal for attacking a drug problem city and county law enforcement officials told task force members was the biggest influence on the area's crime. But statistics obtained from the District Attorney General's Office in Jackson show that the 12-officer unit's individual indictments have waned since 2003, when a tornado's tear through east and downtown Jackson touched off a spike in crime. The unit's drug indictments in Madison County Circuit Court fell steadily from 133 in fiscal year 2001-2002 to 42 in fiscal year 2005-2006, according to the statistics. Indictments rose to 76 during fiscal year 2006-2007. In Tennessee government, the fiscal year begins on July 1 and ends on June 30 of the following calendar year. Police credit the lower indictment totals to different bookkeeping, the larger amount of time needed to build meaningful drug cases, and an increased concentration on obtaining federal indictments that can mete out lengthier sentences for dealers and distributors. "That certainly does not represent all of the work," Jackson Police Chief Rick Staples said. "They may be investigating a case a couple of years before it materializes into an indictment." According to police records, the unit had 85 indictments during calendar year 2006. In 2007, the unit produced 103 indictments and an additional 34 federal indictments. More indictment statistics were not available last week, police and federal officials said. Police records show the unit took 31 cases to federal court in 2007 and 13 in 2006. The drug unit has made at least 200 arrests during each year since 2001 with the exception of 2003, the year of the tornado. The unit made 1,000 arrests in 2005, many in connection to an upswing in the theft and illegal sale of prescription drugs, said Jackson Police Lt. Barry Michael, the unit's commander. He said that year's arrests and a time-consuming process of verifying and tracing forged prescriptions could be to blame for the lowered number of indictments recorded in fiscal year 2005-2006. The unit arrested 416 in 2007 and 275 in 2006. Of all its arrests, many result in lower-level charges and fines worked out in lower courts such as General Sessions and City Court, Michael said. Using the Help Michael said the five additional officers likely would go toward bulking up the street operations of the unit, not for lengthier investigative work. He said the unit wants to focus more on undercover drug buys and cracking down on street dealers and users. Right now, the unit has little day-to-day continuity, Michael said. He said the unit's personnel is often split by duties that vary from serving on federal anti-drug task forces to speaking to schoolchildren about the dangers of drug use. The drug unit also has been involved in an undercover police operation aimed at busting those who sell alcohol to minors, Staples said. He said the drug unit was brought into the operation to assist in the wiring of young informants and surveillance. "They have the equipment," Staples said. The unit has a hand in federal drug cases that pass through the county, Michael said, and reviews or aids investigation of drug-related incidents handled by city police, the Madison County Sheriff's Office and other law enforcement agencies in the area. "Even though it's not directly related to Metro Narcotics, we still have to play a role in most" drug cases, Michael said. "It's just the nature of a drug job. It doesn't work like other areas of investigation." Strong Backing, but Some Questions The proposed expansion of the unit has at times received the clearest political support in the often-divisive discussion over the task force's proposals. Especially among county officials, who city leaders expect to approve funding for five additional sheriff's deputies for the drug unit if the council approves more police funding on Tuesday. "From what the judges, the police, and the sheriff tells me, much of our crime is associated with illegal drugs," County Mayor Jimmy Harris said. "Past that, I think it gets down to opinion." City and county leaders interviewed this week said they were not concerned about the unit's Circuit Court indictment numbers. Some speculated that the unit's manpower and the time needed to build meatier drug cases influenced the statistics. "The lack of manpower that we've had is probably a reason that things have went down," Councilman Johnny Dodd said. "When you're working on several cases, you're going to have problems." There were some questions about the unit's effectiveness and setup. In an e-mail, Councilman Danny Ellis said he would like to see the drug unit and Jackson police's gang unit merged and unified under one commander. "Many times I see these two organizations' efforts overlap," Ellis said. "This (unified) supervisor either produces results or we find someone else who can. After this reorganization takes place, then I would like to look at increasing the funding." Staples said a management revamp of the unit could come since the department is in the early stages of a two-month review of its operations. But he said the new drug officers are needed immediately. "More people will make a big difference," Staples said. Other Additional Police The department will look for experienced officers when making the drug unit hires, most of which officials hope will be made by April, Staples said. The new drug officers are expected to join the unit this summer after receiving training. In addition to the five drug officers, the council will consider approving the hire of two new officers for targeted patrols of troubled neighborhoods and another six for a city traffic unit. The total cost of the 13 new officers and additional equipment during this fiscal year will be $600,000, Staples said. About $139,000 of that total will be added to the police department's budget if the council approves the hires. About half of the funds will come from already budgeted police money for equipment such as an emergency generator, a special vehicle and pistols and radios for patrolling potential annexations, Staples said. Another $150,000 of the cost will be paid for by police drug capital not related to the drug unit, he said. This week's proposed hires do not include more personnel for the city's gang unit or additional resource officers for the Jackson-Madison County School System, other boosts recommended by the task force. Staples said the holdoff on those jobs is, in part, to research whether they can be covered by federal grant funds. But Jackson Mayor Jerry Gist said the city likely will wait until summer to address funding for resource officers. City and county officials have questioned whether the officers are needed. Superintendent Nancy Zambito has said there is evidence that they are needed in recent incidents where students have been caught with guns on school campuses. Authorities have confiscated five guns - in three separate incidents - - at the system's high schools. The members of the city's Safe Neighborhood Task Force, of which Zambito is a member, recently gave top priority to putting officers in the system's four middle and five high schools. The task force recommendation includes placing one officer at each middle school and two officers at each of four high schools - Jackson Central-Merry, Liberty, North Side and South Side. One officer would be placed at Madison Academic Magnet High, for a total of 13 officers in the middle and high schools. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake