Could
the era of Texas' notorious regional narcotics task forces be ending?
Possibly. A number
of city officials across the state have reflected on the
expensive lesson
learned by the City of Amarillo-which earlier this year
paid a $5 million
settlement to victims of the much-discredited Tulia drug
sting-and have
pulled out of their local task forces in order to avoid the
negative publicity,
scandalous headlines, and hefty civil suits that seem to
plague these
law enforcement entities.
On August 31,
the North Central Texas Narcotics Task Force, which covered
Denton and Grayson
Counties, ceased operations thanks to a July decision by
Denton County
Sheriff Weldon Lucas to disband the 15-year-old agency. As
part of the move,
the task force is returning what remains of its $418,738
Byrne grant to
Gov. Rick Perry's office, which administers Byrne funds.
August 31 also
marked the end of the South Plains Regional Narcotics Task
Force, which
has conducted narcotics investigations and stings in Lubbock
and 17 outlying
counties for more than 15 years. In mid-August, the Lubbock
Police Department
pulled out of South Plains and forfeited its role as
administrator
of the task force's $655,650 Byrne grant.
In explaining
their decision to withdraw, Lubbock police department
officials cited
rising insurance premiums and fees, the need for officers to
focus on city
drug cases, and an excessive expenditure of officers' time and
travel to cover
such a vast area. However, increased liability risks were
also a major
factor. Lubbock lies just south of the area once served by the
Panhandle Regional
Narcotics Trafficking Task Force, which employed Tom
Coleman-the officer
primarily responsible for the botched up Tulia sting. As
the Panhandle
task force's grant administrator, Amarillo became financially
liable for Coleman's
actions, even though the sheriff's department of
neighboring Swisher
County hired him. The Panhandle task force disbanded
this spring.
Moving southward,
the City of Laredo has pulled out of the Laredo
Multi-Agency
Narcotics Task Force, also forfeiting its role as grant
administrator
and reducing the task force by half. The Laredo Morning Times
reported that
the Laredo city manager and police chief said their reasons
for withdrawing
were "purely economical and budgetary." Webb County will
administer the
$1.14 million Byrne grant for the task force, which also
covers Zapata
County. Meanwhile, the DPS stepped into the area once covered
by the troubled
81st Judicial District Narcotics Task Force by creating the
11-county Regional
Narcotics Task Force, launched in July. The DPS will
oversee the new
task force, which includes San Antonio and South Texas; this
year it received
more than $1.5 million in Byrne grant start-up funds from
Perry's office.
Unlike traditional task forces, it will target drug
trafficking organizations
instead of low-level, individual dealers.
In the midst
of change-much of which comes as good news for task force
critics, including
the ACLU of Texas-some folks still can't let go. One is
state Rep. Delwin
Jones (R-Lubbock), who on August 23 called a meeting in
Levelland with
representatives from the DPS and law enforcement agencies
still participating
in the South Plains task force in an attempt to find a
replacement grantee.
No other task force participant accepted the job,
leading Jones
to look to the DPS for assistance. The Lubbock
Avalanche-Journal
also reports that Jones plans to introduce legislation
this session
to keep the South Plains task force running.
Perhaps it's
time for Rep. Jones to reread his copy of Too Far Off Task, the
2002 report by
the ACLU of Texas that cataloged two dozen task force
scandals from
Tulia to Hearne. But if Jones needs a fresh scandal to
convince him
that the task force model simply doesn't work, he might try
calling up Blair
Davis, a Houston-area landscape contractor. In late July,
Davis was visited
by several pistol-wielding officers from the Byrne-funded
Harris County
Organized Crime and Narcotics Task Force. The landscape
contractor's
"crime" was growing hibiscus-which looks somewhat like
marijuana, but
with white flowers-in plain view in his front yard. No word
yet on whether
Davis will sue.
