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Home My WebLink About1987-02-24; City Council; 8903; Drug Enforcement Team.u H t1I p. Ill Cd i:: 0 -..I .u Cd H Q) '0 -..I Ill i:: 0 u H ·.S H ,lJ bO t1I i >, .u -..I c., QI ..c: .u 0 .u '0 Q) • i:: (I] H Ill ::, <II .u u (IJ 0 H H p,. Ill t1I .u ~ <II bO H 'ti Q) :I .u ,.0 .u Cd Ql a ..c: .u Q) ..c::~ E-l 0 r--co I -.:t N I N z 0 § ~ ...I 0 z ::, 0 0 ~ ~ en . OF CARLSBAD -AGENC,rl 1 BILL (j) AB# f' 2 o 3 TITLE_; MTG . ..l,JJ,Alfil_ DEPT. Counci J DRUG ENFORCEMENT TEAM DEPT. HD. -- CITY A~ CITY MG . RECOMMENDED ACTION: Consider the establishment of a Drug Enforcement Team. BACKGROUND INFO: Council Member Mark Pettine has submitted the attached memo to the Mayor and Council asking their consideration of a Drug Enforcement Team to focus upon law violations relating to narcotics as well as related crimes. EXHIBITS: 1. Memo dated February 17, 1987 from Council Member Mark Pettine with an attachment. / I February 17, 1987 TO: FROM: MAYOR & COUNCIL MEMBERS Council Member Mark Pettine DRUG ENFORCEMENT TEAM With the rapid growth of our city and the proliferation of the use and sales of narcotics, the time has come for a special Drug Enfor~ement Team. This Team would focus upon law violations relating to narcotics as well as related crimes. I have attached a memo prepared by Investigations Commander, G. K. Fried for your review. If the Council is agreeable, I am advised by staff that this Team can be operational in 60 days. Respectfully, MA1'!p~~ Council Member Attachment cc: City Manager Police Chief JANUAR'f-87 TO: V.O. Jimr.o, Chief of Police FROM: G.K. Fried, Investigations Conmander SWJECT: froposal For Vice/Narcotics Unit This report addresses the need for an additional unit to compliment the organ'lzational structure of the Carlsbad Police Department. I have iden- tified this unit as the "Special Enforcement Detail" and would anticipate a variety of specialized enforcement responsibilities to be assigned. Among the duties targeted by this detail would be the investigation of street level narcotics violations. vice conditions in the fonn of prostitution and illegal gant>ling, liquor law violrtions and the inspection/licensing of certain police regulated businesses. Most of the responsibilities mentioned above require specialized training and enforcement techniques if acceptable results are to b2 achieved. It is the departments current practice to collbat such violations on an ad hoc basis through patrol services. For the most part the results realized by unifonn personnel are due to random chance and yet the statistics are sub- stantial. There are plain clothes teams fielded by patrol who target the above concerns but these details are highly limited in their abilities and mobilfzed on a sporadic, when we can basis. It should be mentioned that the department does participate in the county- wide Narcotics Task Force through the assignment of one investigator. The objectives and services provided by the task force do not, however, address the concerns of this report. For the most part the task force targets the upper echelon drug trafficers throughout the county ar.d while the results certainly benifit our conmunity they are not ·necessarjl_~,.~cecoQriiiea bf.the average citizen. The task force does not necessarily target the street act- ivity of our cornnunity and are not responsible to the complaints or concerns' of our citizenry. SCOPE OF CONCERN I believe it is ir.iportant when reviewing the· infonnation provided below to consider the growth rate of our city and the potential for i11egal activit- ies to become entrenched as a result of lacking enforcement resources. There are currently over 90 retail outlets of alcoholic beverages doing business in the City of Carlsbad, There are four licensed massage establish- ments and nne licensed card room. While I am not suggesting that illicit activities are occuring in any of the~ they do represent a potential need for the type of enforcement detail requested. In calendar year l986 there were approximately (80) arrests for assorted violations involvin!i alcohol and minors. In the same year there were (4) arrests for the crime of soliciting prostitutfon. Two of the prostitution arrests involved a residential oper~tion where the suspects advertised ,. ·' statewide in a news print publication. There were also 26 recorded field interviews for suspected prostitution activity. In 1986 Carlsbad Police Officers made over (400) arrests fon v~olation of various narcotics statutes. These arrests range from possession of marijuana to possession of heroin for sale. For the most part the statistics represent the activity of unifonned patrol personnel. While the number is substantial it should serve, in my opinion, only to demonstrate the magnitude of the problem in our str~ets. G.K. Fred.Lt. . I ' I " -- VICE/NARCOTICS UNIT COST ANALYSIS PERSONNEL: (l} Police Sergeant (l} Police Officer Workers Comp: 5,917 CAPITAL OUTLAY: (l} Used Rental Vehicle (l} Syntor Mobile Radio (2) Handi Talkies ~.AINTENANCE AND OPERATION: ~9 1sl?' , 0 29,500 Overtime: 6,000 10,000 1,800 · 3,800 Vehicle Replacement Fund: 1,740 Vehicle Maint. and Oper: 1,675 Radio MaintenancE: 207 TOTAL COST FOR VICE/NARCOTICS UNIT:.139,042 .E.!:..in.9. e 2r.n1 17,154 Total '6T;2!1 46,654 Total Personnel: 119,802 Total Capital Outlay: 15,600 Total Maintenance and Oper: 3,622 ' ., FEBRUAHY 20, 1987 TO: CITY MANAGER 1 / FROM: POLICE CHIEF~ VICE/NARCOTICS/DRUG ENFORCEMENT TEAM Mayor Lewis requested directly of me to submit through your office my views as to importance of this request getting approval immediately versus waiting for it to be considered as part of the normal budget considerations that will occur in June 1987. This unit is a major priority of the department along with three other areas. As you know, the department has been operating at its current level of staffing for sometime. All the areas expressed in both the midyear report dated December 30, 1986, and the 1987-88 fiscal year budget requests are in my opinion absolutely critical to the successful delivery of police services. In that budget request all of the requested positions are of significa~t importance and the sooner we can be authorized the personnel the better the service can be delivered. I would be remiss in saying that I believe we should wait to implement any part of this request. It is, however, a policy matter that must be made at the City Manager and City Council level whether we approve a particular part of the request now while the other portions await budget deliberations in June. I am sure that you and the Council are aware that the department has very little ability to deal locally with street drug crimes now except with uniform division personnel. Secondly, that no matter when we are authorized the additional personnel, it will take us from two to four months to be fully operational. The other requests are generally capabilities that are currently operational, but are basically inadequate to maintain service levels previously expected by the City Council I am aware that I have not answered the Mayor 1 s question directly. However, as Chief of Police, I advocate the implementation of the entire request as soon as fiscally and practically possible. Carlsbad Police Department is not in a condition to be requesting those positions as a program of advance planning to meet upcoming needs, but instead is in a catch-up mode to service current needs. I