Federal cuts would affect local drug fight

Jennifer Brookens — Sentinel Staff Writer
FAIRMONT — A suggested federal cut to a law enforcement grant would hurt drug task force units nationwide.

Suggested cuts to the Edward Byrne Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance Grant would affect every state that uses the grant to finance drug enforcement. The cut is being suggested by the Bush Administra-tion, which said the federal government shouldn’t be the primary funding source of local and state law enforcement.

“It gives us about $150,000 a year, which is really a small amount,” explained D. Davidson, narcotics commander of the Minnesota River Valley Drug Task Force. “I’m really surprised they want to cut it.”

The funding would be cut off at the end of the year unless the money is put back on the books.

“The programs won’t fold overnight, they’d just decay,” Davidson said.

With the federal money cut, it would be up to the states or local agencies to absorb the costs.

“Locally, the Minnesota River Valley task force would be cut in half, and we’d only be able to cover Blue Earth County,” Davidson explained. The task force currently covers Blue Earth — including the city of Mankato — Nicolett, Watonwan and Martin counties.

“We’re lucky enough that we’d be able to salvage some type of task force, but it eliminates other counties.”

With the exception of a tax, the only way to recoup the costs is to contact and urge legislators to put the money back on the books, Davidson said.

Losing a task force would be a major blow to many rural areas that have made progress recently in the fight against methamphetamine. Without the task forces, drug enforcement would be “difficult and dangerous at best,” Davidson said.

“It would be a band-aid effect to turn these cases over to a non-narcotic team,” he said. “We need to keep the pressure on to try to keep it from spreading. We work on the street and mid-level dealers and made 130 physical arrests last year.”

The legislation passed a few years ago in Minnesota has made a dent in the meth epidemic, but that ground could be lost if enforcement is weakened.

“We only had two or three meth labs last year in the four counties, while the year before the legislation we saw about 50 to 80,” Davidson said. “The meth lab seizures went down dramatically.”

Because of the decrease in manufacturing, more cocaine and crystal meth from Mexico is being seen. But Davidson said the drug will likely cycle around again.

“Meth is the worst drug by far for its instantaneous addiction,” Davidson said. “Crack cocaine is the only thing that I’ve seen come close ... I hope we never lose hold of that legislation.”

But losing the drug enforcement would be noticeable, Davidson said.

“We would see a definite increase in crimes if there is no longer a fear of getting caught,” he said. “Many crimes go hand-in-hand with narcotics; it’s a catalyst with all the other crimes we have. ... I would hate to have to live in a community without a drug task force.”