DRUG TASK FORCE MAY LOSE ITS FUNDING

The majority of law enforcement working in Kerr County are
recognizable by their uniforms and cars. Behind the scenes, though,
the 216th Judicial District Narcotics Task Force has operated "on the
streets" fighting the local war on drugs since the 1980s.

The task force's future has become uncertain, however, as the federal
grant funds that paid salaries and supported the operations will be
unavailable after March 31. Task force commander Bill Hill said
Thursday his unit could be eligible for a different funding source
from the Texas Legislature, but no one knows yet if it will come to pass.

"It is probably going to mean the end of this task force as we've
known it for 18 years," Hill said. "The governor's office is telling
us there is going to be some other funding available, but they don't
know for sure what the qualifications for the funding will be."

Hill said allocations of federal money for the Department of Homeland
Security and the war on terror likely are the reasons the additional
money previously supporting task forces isn't available. The federal
funding for salaries currently is matched by local benefits paid by
law enforcement agencies in Kerr, Kendall, Gillespie and Bandera
counties, which assigned officers to the task force.

Kerrville Police Chief John Young, who serves as the task force
director, said the end of the task force would not be welcome.

"I don't there is anyone who has a task force or has been involved in
a task force is happy about the funding cuts we have seen," Young
said. "We'll have to adjust. Obviously, we'll have narcotics
enforcement in the county."

The changes, according to Young and Kerr County Sheriff Rusty
Hierholzer, already are in the planning stages. The two top law
enforcement officers in Kerr County both said some sort of jointly
manned unit is likely, but the big issue of funding won't be cleared
up until after the future grant criteria are announced. It could mean
Kerrville and Kerr County officials will be looking for extra dollars
in their budget.

For Young, who currently has several vacancies open at KPD, some
budgeted money could be transferred to a task force. Hierholzer could
face a more difficult problem if he has to ask Kerr County
Commissioners for more money. This past summer, he narrowly avoided
losing more personnel than he proposed during a tough budget session.

"A lot of it is going to be contingent on what the criteria is going
to be," Young said. "We may just need to redirect or expand our
current mission.

"I think the focus of narcotics enforcement ... should be to get the
drugs off the streets," he said. "The focus has to be on the
trafficking of drugs and where it is coming from -- breaking that
chain somewhere. That is what we are going to focus to do."

Bruce Curry, 216th District Attorney, who has indicted and prosecuted
many of the drug offenders targeted by the task force agreed and
expressed support for a replacement unit being developed.

"I think it should be a priority to make some sort of plan. The task
force has been invaluable over the years," he said. "The way we
looked at it was the task force was the group of law enforcement
agents that 'worked the streets.' The task force always prided itself
in getting drugs off the streets in the four counties."

Curry said the task force, of which he was the first director, also
has had some major successes including indicting 100 people in a
single grand jury and breaking up a black tar heroin ring.

Hill said it is difficult to measure the effectiveness of the task
force in financial terms or caseload. In 2003, he said one
methamphetamine lab was busted, but 10 labs were raided in 2004.

The organized-crime indictments in Kerr County and jailings following
methamphetamine lab busts, he said, was successful in reducing the
amount of the drug being produced here in recent months.

Hill said the impending reduction of available grant funds has
resulted in some task force officers already returning to their home
units. But the illegal drug trade won't go away and probably would
get worse if the task force is folded.

"Cocaine and marijuana we'll always have," he said. "We'll always
have a problem with heroin (because of long-term addicts.)

"If word gets out there's not going to be a task force working in the
area and (dealers) don't think there is some one in plain clothes
keeping an eye on them, I'm afraid there'll be a big increase in the
market," Hill said.

According to Hill, the police chiefs and sheriffs in the 216th
district are taking the subject seriously.

"Their intentions, as near as I can tell, is they will form their own
units," he said. "Nobody's going to like it, but I think everybody
realizes it is need."