STATE URGED TO HELP VALLEY FIGHT DRUGS

Funding: House Panel Hears Testimony, Bid For Law-Enforcement Financing.

PALMER -- The Valley's high rate of methamphetamine use is linked to
rising reports of property crime, the head of the Mat-Su drug unit
said at a gathering of law enforcement and lawmakers Tuesday night.

After Mat-Su Homebuilders president Dave Owens talked about thieves
hauling trailers full of equipment from Valley job sites, Sgt. Rob
Langendorfer of the state Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Enforcement said
his drug enforcement team has found the same trailers at meth busts
and drug raids.

The comments came at an informal meeting of a House finance
subcommittee that helps decide how the state should spend its money
on law enforcement. Few Mat-Su residents attended -- there were more
badges than baseball caps among the roughly 30 people in the audience
- -- but the gathering gave Valley troopers and police a chance to tell
lawmakers what they need.

Among the concerns: Disappearing grant money that helps pay for drug
enforcement officers, an understaffed district attorney's office
resulting in many minor crimes going ignored, and the need for more cops.

"The drug unit here is a third the size it should be," said Palmer
Police Chief Russ Boatright.

Meth dominated the discussion. Speakers talked about the drug's
aftershocks of sexual assault and child abuse.

Rep. Bill Stoltze, a Chugiak Republican and chairman of the finance
subcommittee, said the drug is creating a web of problems and costs
for the region.

"They're not the blue-chip neighbors to have -- a bunch of edgy,
whacked-out people on meth," he said.

Langendorfer heads a five-member drug unit in the Valley. Two members
of his team come from the Wasilla and Palmer police departments, but
the major source of funding to pay for those men is drying up.

The Palmer and Wasilla police chiefs said officials must find a new
way to fund the positions, which were traditionally paid for through
a recently reduced federal grant program.

"To sustain even what we have is going to be the biggest challenge,"
said Wasilla Police Chief Don Savage, adding that even keeping the
same number of Mat-Su drug enforcement officers on the street isn't
going far enough.

When it comes to increasing the number of troopers, Public Safety
Commissioner Bill Tandeske said he can't ask for more people until he
fills more of the 40 vacant trooper positions statewide. One of the
department's biggest challenges in the Valley is recruitment and
retention, he said.

The majority of the Valley drug unit's time is spent on
methamphetamine cases, Langendorfer said, and he regularly sees
construction equipment, tools and other stolen property when
investigating drug crimes.

Valley property crime rates, meanwhile, are rising, said Investigator
Jason Fieser, of the Alaska Bureau of Investigations.

As long as the Mat-Su has a drug problem, authorities say, the thefts
and burglaries will continue.

"If drug crimes are on the rise, property crimes will rise in the
same proportion," said Sgt. Dallas Massie, who supervises the bureau.
"People who are out doing drugs aren't out working to support their
drug habit."

Boatright, the Palmer police chief, said another frustration for
Valley police is understaffing at the local district attorney's
office. Public defenders seem to outnumber prosecutors three to one, he said.

"Unless it's a special instance, it's like pulling teeth to get any
kind of B misdemeanor prosecuted," Boatright said. Those misdemeanors
include shoplifting, graffiti and vandalism.

In Wasilla, Savage proposed $50 to $300 fines for shoplifters,
because, he said, the district attorney's office hasn't been
prosecuting most minor thefts for well over a year. Boatright said he
hopes to see his town adopt similar rules.