FAYETTEVILLE -- Three police chiefs said they plan to drop out of the 4th Judicial District Drug Task Force and use the $1,500 membership fee for their own departments.
Drug task force
The 4th Judicial District Drug Task Force provides the initial and follow-up investigations concerning drug-related crime. The task force, which started in 1991, covers Washington and Madison counties and is made of investigators from the following law enforcement departments: Elkins, Farmington, Fayetteville, Greenland, Johnson, Lincoln, Prairie Grove, Springdale, Tontitown, Washington County Sheriff’s Office and West Fork.
Source: Staff report
"It's not that the war on drugs is dead, but there are a lot more ways we can spend that money," said Joey McCormick, Tontitown police chief.
The task force, which started in 1991, provides the initial and follow-up investigations concerning drug-related crime in the district, which covers Washington and Madison counties.
Tontitown, Johnson and Elkins plan to leave the task force after June 30, dropping the number of member agencies from 11 to seven, said Judy Cohea, support services manager at the Fayetteville Police Department, which heads the task force.
Elm Springs left the task force last year.
Police chiefs from Tontitown and Elm Springs said the money they pay into the group is better spent locally. Elm Springs plans to spend the money on police training. Tontitown plans to pay for extra patrols, which police said cut down on thefts and burglaries.
Johnson and Elkins police chiefs did not return messages left at their offices last week.
Small cities and the Washington County sheriff's office partially pay the cost for a rural officer position within the task force. That investigator can work in any jurisdiction and as a team member with other task force investigators, Cohea said.
McCormick said he talked with officers in other small police departments who said they didn't see much service from the rural officer.
Elm Springs Police Chief Jason Hiatt said he never saw the rural officer in his city. Drug investigations generally don't originate or end there, he said.
"As much as I would like to contribute to crime-fighting in Fayetteville, I think our money would be better spent focused on crime in Elm Springs," he said.
The more small police departments leave the task force, the less money the task force will have for its rural officer, said Chris Workman, Prairie Grove police chief.
"Ultimately, the position will go away," Workman said.
The rural task force officer reports to Prairie Grove, which is reimbursed for his training and other expenses. Losing the position would mean one fewer detective working undercover or investigating drug trafficking, Workman said.
Goshen, a small Washington County city about 7 miles east of Fayetteville, plans to join the task force this year, but that won't offset the loss of the other cities, officials said.
This fiscal year, task force members hope the shortfall in funding will be covered by the Washington County prosecuting attorney's office. The task force sent a letter Wednesday to prosecutor Matt Durrett asking his office to provide $15,000 by the end of July.
Raising the fee for the remaining small agencies is not an option because the departments might drop out, Workman said.
"Nobody wants to pay money," Workman said. "At the same time, [drugs] affect your family, it affects your quality of life. I'd hope everyone would say we want a safe community -- we don't want drugs in our community. This [task force] is putting more resources out there to take care of the bad stuff."
'Busy as ever'
One of the reasons small cities joined the task force was for help with large-scale methamphetamine labs in the 1990s, law enforcement officials said.
"The big [methamphetamine] labs are just kind of dead," McCormick said.
Most of the methamphetamine in Washington and Madison counties is imported, law enforcement officials said.
The task force handled one methamphetamine lab in February, according to a report released Wednesday. That number is typical, according to reports from 2016 and 2017.
Workman said other drugs and trafficking are becoming bigger problems.
Last month, the task force seized about 2,491 prescription pills and about 6 pounds of methamphetamine ice, according to the report. The task force also found 72 pounds of marijuana and a little more than half a pound of cocaine.
During the same time, the task force dismantled two drug-trafficking operations, seized about $130,000 in assets and took 65 guns, the report shows.
All those are from cases generated by the task force, not patrol officers, according to the report.
"Those [task force] guys are busy as they ever were," Workman said. "You still have plenty of illegal drugs out there exchanging hands and being sold."
Communities, large and small, need the drug task force, Washington County Sheriff Tim Helder said. Drug dealers don't recognize borders, he said. They also are not centralized in one spot, Durrett said.
The task force exists so police departments can share resources, multiply forces and share information, Helder said. Many small police departments don't have the manpower and funding for a specialized investigator, Durrett said.
Workman agreed. Communities countywide benefit from the task force, he said.
"They do work all over the county and in Madison County, as well," Workman said. "Your town is getting the benefit of that -- keeping the area safe."
Metro on 03/19/2017