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Maybe when the economy turns around we can get back to the war on drugs, but for now budget cuts are making life easier for those who make their living growing, manufacturing and distributing illegal narcotics. Law enforcement officials in Georgia say a cut in federal funding means the Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad and Gang Task Force will be forced to focus more on local cases and not on the bigger state and federal cases.
If you read American Police Beat, you might be aware of the fact that federal cuts have already eliminated multi-agency drug task forces in California. Now the same thing is happening in the Peach State.
"The FBI has come in and said the unit has got to cut their numbers," Gainesville City Manager Kip Padgett said.
Councilman Bob Hamrick said he had heard the unit was being disbanded altogether.
"I'm concerned. I think this is one of the better organizations we've got," Hamrick said at the meeting.
The narcotics unit is primarily funded by the U.S. government under the federal designation of Safe Streets Task Force and has been operating since 1989. It's made up of agencies from the Gainesville Police Department, the Hall County Sheriff's Office and the FBI.
Likewise, the Gang Task Force began in 1997 and focuses on crimes related to gang activity. The force has been receiving federal funding since its inception.
Authorities from both Gainesville and Hall County said they believed the unit was not being disbanded.
"The unit has, in fact, not been disbanded," said Kevin Holbrook, public information officer for the Gainesville Police Department. "There was a cutback in federal funding, but there's not going to be a loss of manpower."
Prior to the cuts the unit has handled major offenses at the state and federal level and some at the local level. The officers have federal jurisdictionand can file federal charges that routinely result in higher rates of conviction and longer prison terms for offenders.
"They'll still handle the same stuff, but on a local level," Holbrook said of the situation now. In an interview with reporters from the Gainesville Times he said it was just a question of making the necessary adjustments.
"Those officers will still work hand-in-hand with the Safe Street Task Force officers if a case does need to go federal."
The funding reductions mean that there's enough money to support three county positions under the Safe Streets Task Force as opposed to the 12 positions it previously supported, sheriff's office official said.
Their salaries were already covered under the Hall County Sheriff's Office budget and the only costs the federal government provided was reimbursement for overtime, said Sgt. Stephen Wilbanks, spokesman for the sheriff's office.
"It won't have much of an impact on the county's budget," Sgt. Wilbanks told reporters.
The biggest impact will be reimbursement for overtime, fuel and vehicle costs.
Wilbanks says the current sheriff's office budget can handle those costs on their own.
"The Sheriff's office wants to assure the public that its efforts in narcotics and gang investigations will continue as it always has, with only some logistical adjustments," Wilbanks told the Times. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites        
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