Sheriff turns drug war toward gangs

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho -- Since the recipe for methamphetamine began finding its way into Kootenai County kitchens, Sheriff Rocky Watson has been putting all of his effort into fighting the makeshift meth labs.

Now, Watson said, he's ready to take a new approach by targeting the gangs that bring even more of the drug into Idaho.

"I'm putting 100 percent of my resources into chasing meth labs. Am I missing 80 percent of the problem? I could be busting little meth labs and missing semis coming through," he said.

Investigators believe that most of the methamphetamine in the Boise and Spokane, Wash., regions is being brought in from Mexico by gangs, Watson said. And that means northern Idaho is not immune to the transient drug dealers.

"Spokane doesn't sneeze without Coeur d'Alene catching a cold," Watson said Wednesday. "We are mirrors of each other."

To battle the problem, Watson sent two Kootenai County Drug Task Force detectives to Spokane's Gang Enforcement Team. The detectives are spending two months with the team, learning how it works and about the region's gangs.

When they return, Watson said, they may launch a new gang-fighting unit in Kootenai County.

But the move means the multi-agency drug task force is down to just three people, said Coeur d'Alene Police Sgt. Christie Wood.

"The task force is in the process of evaluating the future workload and making some decisions on how to adjust," Wood said.

Watson said he made the decision after reviewing statistics.

In the county's overcrowded jail, 30 percent of inmates are there on drug charges and 70 percent of the inmates have drug problems, he said. Meanwhile, state police statistics show that the number of meth labs being busted in Idaho has plummeted in recent years.

The local drug task force, established in 1988 with a grant, is still plenty busy, Wood said. But, "the trend has changed. The trend has become more mobile."

Spokane County's Gang Enforcement Team, established in the late 1990s, involves officers from the cities and county, probation and parole officers and county prosecutors, said Spokane County Sheriff's Sgt. Chris Kehl. The gang team works closely with the county's drug task force.

"Where you have gangs, you've got drugs, so it works well having them in the same unit," he said.