POLICE TEAMWORK NEEDED TO FIGHT DRUGS IN BARREN

Drug dealers who may have thought they could continue to offer their wares
unnoticed and unprosecuted in Barren County should watch out. A newly
formed drug task force is bringing various law enforcement agencies
together in what should be an effective answer to dealing with drugs in the
county. When it comes to catching top and middle dealers, it takes teamwork
and its most important component - communication. Barren County Sheriff
Barney Jones said in Friday's Daily News that the use of popular drugs has
grown more than his - or any - department could handle.

Recognizing the need for help is a good first step toward battling the drug
problem. Officers who are already doing the best they can in their
individual departments will no longer have to be frustrated at how little
their individual agency may at times be able to achieve.

Without a centralized effort, three different Barren County law enforcement
agencies have sometimes worked on the same case and not known it. This
problem is not unique to Barren County. Drug dealers will always have a
better chance of not getting caught and prosecuted in areas where there is
no organized effort against them.

For the newly formed agency to have maximum impact, all departments being
represented must put aside whatever territorial differences might exist and
focus on their common goal. In cases where laws have been broken, judges
can help validate the work of the task force by giving out stiff sentences,
which will further confirm that the county is serious about getting dealers
behind bars.

The use of popular drugs like methamphetamine, which can be made cheaply
and easily, increases when the pressure and potential of getting caught is
lessened because of a lack of resources or organization among law
enforcement officials.

Actually, when it comes to drugs like methamphetamine, all county citizens
should consider themselves ex-officio members of the drug task force by
keeping an eye out for suspicious activities, such as purchases of large
quantities of the ingredients used to make the drug. Or, in the case of
marijuana, citizens - especially farmers - can help by keeping an eye out
for plants in fields during growing season.

The challenge of dealing with the meth problem is a difficult one, even in
Warren County, which has had a drug task force for several years now. But
with the consistency with which the force has been able to shut down meth
labs, it's a problem that appears to at least be in check.

Having a task force in a surrounding county will have the residual effect
of helping officers in Warren and surrounding counties carry on an
effective fight against drug dealers, which really don't care where they
sell their wares or to whom. But now, they should know that Barren County
has a drug task force comprised of representatives from city police
departments and the sheriff's department who do care.