Springfield mulls police deal with National Guard

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Some Springfield residents have raised concerns about a proposal that would have the Missouri National Guard help the city's police with drug enforcement.

Police chief Paul Williams said the agreement called for one unarmed, military-trained information analyst with the guard working at a desk to help curtail drug sales in Springfield. Williams has said the analyst's salary would be paid by the guard.

Several residents complained to the city council at a meeting earlier this month the planned partnership focused too much on marijuana instead of targeting more harmful drugs.

About 30 words have been since cut from the agreement, removing all references to marijuana-specific, counterdrug efforts.

Councilman Doug Burlison, however, said the changes would do little to ease his strong reservations about the agreement. He said the "marijuana aspect" of the agreement is "not nearly the most dangerous part of this."

"If we were to receive a national guardsman simply to clean up the bathrooms at police headquarters, that is still too much mixing of police and military resources," he said.

Other council members said they saw the partnership as more pragmatic.

Williams, who is expected to present the revised agreement at council meeting Monday, said the changes, if adopted, would have no meaningful effect on the partnership because marijuana was never meant to be the focus of the agreement.

Guard spokeswoman Major Tammy Spicer said the voluntary program in which guard members work with law enforcement has been in place nationwide since 1989. She said the Missouri National Guard has about a dozen analysts working with police agencies in the state.

The program provides guard members with valuable "real world skills," she said.

"This is the first time there's ever been an issue," Spicer said. "Typically the departments that we are supporting certainly appreciate the additional support they're getting from the guard."

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Information from: Springfield News-Leader, http://www.news-leader.com