Small town cops make big city drug busts www.privateofficer.com

Dublin GA. March 20 2008
At presstime today 49 people have been arrested and dozens more are still being sought in a sweep of drug dealers in the county that left the streets bare in particular places.
"I love it!," said Dublin Police Chief Wayne Cain after he drove down North Jefferson Street and saw several areas where suspected drug dealers would normally be standing wiped clean of any such persons.
"The last seven months I've had a bittersweet smile on my face when I would ride by and know they were selling drugs and I had to just keep right on riding." Cain said he knew the time would come when those suspects would have no dealing left to do except with the law and he was waiting patiently for that day.
Starting at 5:30 a.m. Tuesday reckoning day finally came as a list of 171 warrants were issued on 67 individuals following a seven-month-long investigation led by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's State Drug Task Force.
Laurens Sheriff Bill Harrell explained that more than two years ago both he and Cain saw a need to get the State Drug Task Force to Laurens County. Each had requested the task force come to the county to work undercover to help solve the drug problem.
Then it was discovered the task force is so backed up with requests due to the budget cuts of the agency that the city and county would each have to wait about 18 months on a long list with other jurisdictions that had requested the task force to work in their areas as well.
It took the sheriff and [me] a year and a half worth of waiting because of other [agencies] in line," said Cain, adding they joined forces to try to get the team to Laurens County. Both Harrell and Cain wrote letters requesting the team come and work with both the police department and the sheriff's department in a joint undercover operation.
Yesterday as Cain and Harrell watched the steady stream of suspects being brought into the sheriff's department their smiles were no longer bittersweet, but satisfied.
"We're working on our 11th hour and already riding the streets of Dublin -- it's a beautiful sight," Cain said.
He explained instead of suspected drug dealers standing on the corners, now the sight is of children playing and senior citizens sitting on their porches -- indicating the arrests have made a difference in the atmosphere of the city.
"I feel like it's going to be a very positive thing for our community," said Harrell of the arrests made. "Hopefully folks who want to get into the drug business will realize, ‘hey, they're going to do something about it'."
Harrell said he wants to do all he can to stop the amount of drug use in the county.
"We're going to lock folks up and get them jail time," he said of the efforts that will never stop. "You just don't ever know. We may be doing another investigation right now."
The GBI task force was complimentary of the county's drug task force, he said, adding that the county is fortunate to have such an agency that could work in cooperation with the GBI, and then could continue working on its own cases while the GBI was doing its operation.
Harrell said there is one goal for the drug arrests and continuing investigations. "We want to make Laurens County safer for children going to school and our residents," he said, adding that 80 percent of the people in jail are there as a result of some kind of alcohol or drug addiction or activity, whether it be committing crimes to get fast money to buy drugs or committing crimes to make fast money from drugs.
Harrell said he would like to remind the residents that they are a "very important part of our game." He said by calling in anonymous information to the Laurens County 911 Center, if residents suspect drug activity in an area, they can help put a stop to it.
"It's not just a problem here. All 159 counties in the state of Georgia are having the same problem we're having, " he said.
"But, always we are striving to get drugs off the street. I don't know if we'll be able to get them all off, but we're sure going to try. I was very pleased with the way things went," he said.
The sheriff's department was in a flurry all day Tuesday as more than 100 officers from the sheriff's department, GBI Macon Regional Drug Enforcement Office, the GBI State Drug Task Force, Dublin Police, Georgia State Patrol, East Dublin Police Department, GBI Region 12 Field Office, Georgia Pardons and Parole, Dodge State Prison K-9 and the Georgia Department of Corrections formed teams to go out to locate and arrest the suspects. The Dublin Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office also helped with the investigation.
Suspects were brought in and booked through the entrance to the administrative offices of the sheriff's department where a group of officers handled the booking process as rapidly as possible rather than swamping the jailers with the task. At one point the suspects were lined up outside the door waiting their turn to get through the process. Charges range from the sale of marijuana to cocaine and ecstasy. It is expected that other arrest operations similar to Tuesday's will be launched unannounced for others sought in connection to this operation. Harrell said arrests will continue for months following Tuesday's sting because some suspects may have avoided arrest by fleeing and will go "underground" for a while and then when they resurface they will be arrested. Also, the investigation will continue until enough information is collected to take warrants on other suspects that were not part of the operation.
The seriousness of the investigation and the intention to stop drug dealers was expressed in the words of one GBI agent when asked what he would tell drug dealers, if he had the opportunity.
"You never know when you're going to be selling to an undercover agent," he said.
The State Drug Task Force used in excess of $26,000 of its budget during of the investigation in related expenses in order to place the needed number of agents in the county for the seven-month period and to supply them with the necessary equipment and undercover identities to complete the investigation. The money for the operation comes from grant funds awarded to the GBI from the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council of Georgia as part of the Byrne/JAG Grant from the federal government.
Laurens Sheriff's Drug Task Force Sgt. Chris Brewer said without the efforts of the GBI State Drug Task Force and the Macon Regional Drug Enforcement Office none of what took place Tuesday would have happened.
He said the agents who worked undercover spent a "lot of time away from their families for weeks at the time, worked late nights and weekends. Because of their efforts this whole operation was possible. They're a great example of dedicated law enforcement and are a valuable asset of the GBI."

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