Editorial

DRUG TASK FORCE HAS SUCCESS FIGHTING CRIME

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The head of the SEMO Drug Task Force last week released some statistics that serve as proof the special investigative unit has had a real impact on illegal drug trafficking and other crimes in the area.

In the two years the task force has been in operation, it has maintained a 100 percent conviction rate in the arrests of 264 people for 422 different crimes, its president, Dennis Long, told a task force gathering in Dexter Wednesday. The task force, which was formed in January 1990, experienced a 40 percent increase in individual arrests during its second year of operation, said Long, the Poplar Bluff police chief. Task Force Coordinator Alan Foust attributed the second-year success to the experience task force members gained during its first year of operation.

The numbers are impressive enough to make anyone take notice. No doubt those who are still dealing in drugs across the region have made special note of the task force's success, for they know they could well be included in the arrest numbers at the end of the task force's third year a year from now.

The task force is comprised of 17 Southeast Missouri police and sheriff's departments and the Missouri Highway Patrol. It has become the central source in the area for narcotics intelligence. Long, who was instrumental in bringing the task force together, cited the group members' ability to provide information to one another through a network as a key to its success.

The task force is an excellent example of what can happen when law enforcement agencies combine their resources, manpower and knowledge to fight crime. In today's mobile society, no town or county is an island. Criminals move freely and quickly into and out of law enforcement jurisdictions. The cooperation of so many departments, combined with the highway patrol's statewide arrest powers, has proven to be a forceful tool in the fight against illegal drugs.

The word is out to those in the region who would persist in dealing in drugs: With the SEMO Drug Task Force at work, your odds of being caught are now greater than ever.