Published: February 04, 2008 02:32 pm      

Dollar loss

DUNCAN — The Stephens County Drug Task Force Team could be impacted hard in the financial pocket for Fiscal Year 2008 — unless alternative funding sources are found.

The team is run through the district attorney’s office, but its primary funding source comes from the Byrne/Justice Assistant Grant (JAG), a federal program. This program has been cut by 67 percent by the federal government for the next upcoming fiscal year, effective July 1. Investigator Justin Scott, who oversees the Drug Task Force division for Stephens County, said that the funding his team received from this grant was in excess of $100,000.

He said that it is still unknown how much effect the funding cut will actually have on not only his team, but all the other teams throughout Oklahoma.

“It really depends on whether the employing agency of the drug task force team can absorb the costs,” he said. “Regardless of the loss of funding, the district attorney will maintain a strong and proactive approach in apprehending drug dealers.”

In January, Scott was responsible for a narcotics bust that resulted in 16 individuals being charged with felony distribution crimes.

He said that it took him two to three months of investigation in order to reach the point where he could arrest the individuals.

Much of the costs associated with his investigation deal with controlled drug purchases, which are bought primarily with JAG funding, Scott said.

Stephens County District Attorney Bret Burns said in an e-mail to The Banner that his ability to fight drugs will be seriously curtailed if the JAG funding is reduced.

“If we lose the JAG funding, we will be unable to organize and coordinate this effort,” he said.

But Burns also noted that if he fails to find alternative funding sources from the federal government, he will continue to make every effort to remove drugs from the streets and find other alternative funding sources.

Jimmie Richey, coordinator for all 22 drug task force teams in Oklahoma, said that the JAG funding is split among all the teams to purchase drugs, maintain equipment and pay salaries.

“If we can’t get funding back, then our ability to get drugs off of the street will drastically decrease,” Richey said. “The drug task force teams are the largest collective drug enforcement entity in the state.”

He said that some other entity may have to pick up the slack because of the funding cut.

Elizabeth French, press secretary for Sen. James Inhofe, said that Inhofe and several other senators in Congress are trying to get drug task force funding back into other appropriation bills.

“He is working to ensure the district attorneys and drug task force teams in Oklahoma have the resources they need to prosecute drugs and crime,” French said.

The Stephens County Drug Task Force Team is just one of three teams under Burns, who is district attorney for District Six in Oklahoma.

Since July of 2007, according to an e-mail to The Banner from Dusty Dowdle, drug task force director for District Six, the three task force teams have been responsible for more than 75 narcotics cases.

He said that in the last seven months the teams have seized a street value of over a quarter of a million dollars in illegal drugs, including marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine.

Dowdle also said in the e-mail that the task force teams have assisted other cases throughout the state and country in apprehending traffickers and distributors of illegal drugs.