County officials impressed with anti-drug force

ELLSWORTH – Since the beginning of January, when Hancock County became the first county in Maine to create and fund its own anti-drug task force, the three-agent team has been busy, according to officials.

The task force has arrested or indicted 15 people, executed seven search warrants and filed 21 criminal charges, according to Gary Higgins, special supervisory agent for the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency.It also has impressed state, county and municipal officials with its results as it has removed illegal substances, weapons and drug money from communities throughout Hancock County.

“Within the three months time, they have exceeded expectations,” Higgins said this week. “They’ve done a bang-up job down there.”

Ken Shea, one of two Hancock County commissioners who voted in December to create the task force, said last week that, given its results so far, he is in favor of funding the task force again next year.

The task force, which is supervised by MDEA, was funded with $200,000 in the county’s 2004 budget. Hancock County Sheriff William Clark proposed the idea after state officials said they didn’t have the money or manpower to commit resources to Hancock County.

“I think it’s going well,” Shea said about the task force. “I haven’t heard anybody say we’ve made a mistake.”

Southwest Harbor resident Dick Dimond, a retired physician, said Thursday that the task force has been effectively dealing with the law enforcement side of the problem. Dimond organized a public forum last year in Southwest Harbor about illegal drug activity. The forum was attended by 225 people.

By making arrests and then by dealing effectively with drug users in the court system and in jail, the county can help put a dent in the level of supply and demand for illegal drugs in the area, Dimond said.

“That’s all you can hope to do,” he said. “Smoking opium has been around for a long time.”

Having three agents living and working full-time in Hancock County has made a critical difference in the number of drug busts in the area, according to Higgins. Because the agents come from local police departments and, as a result, have good contacts with those departments, it is easier to act on information about illegal drugs, he pointed out.

Before the task force was created, it was difficult to act on such information because local police officers were too busy with the demands of routine patrol and MDEA agents in neighboring counties often did not have the time to spare to come to Hancock County, Higgins said.

The task force’s ability to conduct thorough investigations has led to bigger drug cases being prosecuted in Hancock County, Assistant Attorney General William Savage, who prosecutes drug cases in Hancock County, said last week.

“These are more serious cases, involving larger amounts of drugs or more serious conduct,” Savage said. “When you fall into [a case] on the roadside, you have to deal with what you get.”

Some municipal officials who have been critical of steep increases in county taxes in recent years questioned the wisdom of Clark’s proposal, but at least one of the skeptics since has changed his mind.

Mount Desert Selectman Patrick Smallidge said Tuesday that he was wrong to oppose the idea.

“The drug task force is doing an excellent job,” Smallidge said. “Seeing the results, I would be for funding it again.”

Besides Shea, Hancock County’s two other commissioners said Tuesday that their support for the task force remains the same as it did in December.

Commissioner Fay Lawson, who voted for the proposal, said she is pleased with what the task force has done so far. Commissioner Royce Perkins, who voted against it, said he is not sure the same arrests and busts would not have been made by other agencies had the task force not been approved.

Perkins said he would have to learn more about the task force’s accomplishments before he could vote on whether to fund it again in 2005.