"Up until this point, we have been trying to salvage our task force operations," Nacogdoches County Sheriff Thomas Kerss said. "We've been lobbying to keep it going, but now it doesn't look like that will be a possibility."If this news is any indication, by March Texas' Tulia-style drug task forces may all be gone for good. See Grits' prior drug task force coverage.
Via TDCAA.
Grits,
ReplyDeleteI'm not suggesting anything but did you read that article and see what I saw.
All of their evidence system is separated from the sheriff's office.
They used asset forfeiture money to operate for three months.
They have piles of records.
It seems to me that everything exists to evaluate whether or not there was 18 years of drug work or 18 years of Tulia style drug work.
This will be a missed opportunity when the shredders are plugged in.
That, my friend, is why I did a large open records request on behalf of ACLUTX to all the task forces last summer after the new legislation passed! :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's almost classic opiate or stimulant addict behavior, such as when the illicit drug source dries up, only in this case it's money that is substituted for addictive drugs.
ReplyDeleteFirst, the word that there's no (easy) money to be had, but the denial of the reality is coupled with pie-in-the-sky hopes for a last minute rescue. Now that the worst-case scenario (for them) is verified and is settling in with a heavy crunch, the various agencies are starting to understand what 'no money' really means: the end of the gravy train.