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LAW ENFORCEMENT Klamath County drug enforcement team revived due to increased trafficking State, city partnership will mirror one that dissolved in 2008 Comment By Stephen Floyd Klamath Falls Herald & News MailTribune.com By Stephen Floyd Klamath Falls Herald & News Posted Mar. 21, 2016 at 12:01 AM By Stephen Floyd Klamath Falls Herald & News Posted Mar. 21, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Social News It’s been the better part of a decade since Klamath County had a group of law enforcement officers dedicated to drug investigation. In that time, the distribution of methamphetamine, heroin and other drugs has exploded, both in the area and in Oregon. Much of this is due to Mexican drug cartels and other groups who use Highway 97 as a drug trafficking corridor. And the Klamath Falls Police Department (KFPD) and Oregon State Police (OSP) said enough is enough. “It is absolutely crucial to have a drug team in Klamath County,” said Lt. Jason Westfall, leader of OSP’s Klamath Falls regional office. The county’s previous team, the Klamath Interagency Narcotics Team, formed in the ‘90s and included officers from major law enforcement agencies throughout the area. Though it had a strong impact on trafficking of drugs in the county, the team folded in 2008 due to budget cutbacks. Reforming the drug team has been a priority for a number of members of local law enforcement, including candidates during the 2012 election for Klamath County sheriff and for the current election year. Klamath Falls Police Chief Dave Henslee also put the idea before city council members after he was hired last year. Between a reduction in local enforcement and the collapse of the home-grown meth industry in Oregon — due to strict regulations on access to chemicals like pseudoephedrine — organized crime took over the meth racket and brought it back to Klamath County on a large scale. County-wide issue “It is a problem in all of Klamath County,” Westfall said. “I don’t think there is a specific neighborhood that shines or stands out as the problem area. It is a problem in every neighborhood, it is a problem in every community in the county.” In light of such challenges, the drug team is scheduled to be officially launched April 1 as the Basin Interagency Narcotic Enforcement Team. Westfall said the new group “almost mirrors” the previous team and will include two full-time troopers from his agency and two full-time officers from KFPD. New to the drug team will be the addition of agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration, who are already at work locally through KFPD. “They now have office space within the Klamath Falls Police Department,” said Henslee, “and they are going to dedicate agents from the federal level to work over here in Klamath Falls a couple days a week as well to assist the team.” Other groups such as the Klamath County District Attorney’s Office and Klamath County Community Corrections are expected to be involved with staff members dedicated at least part-time to the drug team. Though the Klamath County sheriff’s office has been offered an opportunity to participate, they have not yet dedicated a deputy to the team. Henslee said he understand this is because of a lack of availability for a full-time team member. Sheriff Frank Skrah was not available for comment on this story. Halting drug behaviors a must Kiki Parker-Rose, director of community corrections, said she believes the drug team will help create access to treatment services for offenders before their criminal behavior warrants hard time. “For those people that are making their living dealing drugs, there’s going to be a very large accountability factor where they may end up going to the institution,” she said. “For those people that are the lower level, folks that are just buying and using, it’s going to give us an opportunity to early identify them and hopefully move into treatment services so we can try to effect change. “My hope,” she continued, “is that we’re able to not overload our jails or prisons with these folks if we have the ability to provide treatment services to them before that time, because that’s an expensive way for us to go.” Community corrections is expected to dedicate a parole officer to the drug team part-time at first, and will re-evaluate the position after six months to determine if it needs to be full-time instead. Parker-Rose said that after the team is up and running, she expects her department’s case load to increase significantly as team members make contact with offenders not currently under supervision. Immediate impact “I can see it impacting our numbers coming through the door,” she said. Parker-Rose said she expects the level of communication between agencies involved will also improve, and said she believes the drug team will have a recognizable impact once it is in place. “Offenders are going to know as soon as the drug team is up and going,” she said. “They’re going to all know.” Westfall said the results of the drug team will be seen not only through a reduction in the use and trafficking of narcotics, but also decreases in related crimes. “The ultimate goal of that team is to not just impact narcotics activity but it’s to impact theft, burglaries and every other crime that goes with that because they are connected,” he said. “So an overall reduction in those types of activities is what we’re after in time. But it’s going to take time and the dedication of the team to get there.” Drug-related crimes Henslee said multiple high-profile crimes in the county during the last year have been drug-related, including some of the more violent offenses. He said he could not comment specifically, as many of these are incidents still being adjudicated, but said tackling the drug problem will get to the bottom of such offenses. “If you want to solve the problem, you need to pull the root of the weed,” he said. “You can’t just continue to pull the leaf all the time.” Henslee also said the drug team’s efforts will not focus solely on Klamath County, but will involve working with neighboring agencies as needed to affect crime in the region. “We recognize that drugs don’t have jurisdictional boundaries and neither will this team,” he said. “We’ll partner with other agencies around the state to make sure that we are successful.” No time to wait By the time April 1 rolls around, Henslee said the drug team will be ready to come out swinging, as steps have already been taken to begin enforcement efforts. “We have already been making connections with informants and working cases on the periphery,” he said. “When this team hits the ground in the first part of April, we will be all systems go. They will be out on the road working, there isn’t going to be any lag time.” Henslee added the new team will have the benefit of using multiple officers who served on the previous drug team, and said the group will benefit from their prior work in the field. “There’s isn’t going to be a lot of training needed,” he said. “We’ll probably do some updated training, but there’s isn’t going to be a lack of experience.” The Basin Interagency Narctoic Enforcement Team will be in place indefinitely, said Westfall, as current agreements do not have an expiration date or other such conditions. Henslee added the ultimate goal of the team will be to benefit the citizens of Klamath County. “We owe it to them to make Klamath Falls a great place to live and work and raise their families,” Henslee said, “and we think this is a significant step to really help clean up Klamath Falls and we’re dedicated to do it.” By Stephen Floyd Klamath Falls Herald & News MailTribune.com By Stephen Floyd Klamath Falls Herald & News Posted Mar. 21, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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