Local law enforcement are taking action to keep a drug task force alive if President Bush's 2006 budget cut proposals pass.

The White House has taken funds from programs it says don't work and allocated them toward Homeland Security. The drug task force, which is funded by the Edward Bryne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant, is one of the programs. The grant was reduced by 48.3 percent in the 2005 fiscal year and is proposed to be eliminated in 2006.

The Metro Area Narcotics Task Force, created in 1987, is a cooperative effort between the Morton and Burleigh county sheriffs' departments, the Bismarck and Mandan police departments and the Bureau of Criminal Investigation. The agencies work together to investigate drug violations.

The drug task force arrested 1,672 people and charged 2,271 offenses in 2003, the most recent data available from the BCI.

"In larger departments you have a narcotics bureau that goes out and investigates within a jurisdiction. We have a lot of smaller bureaus and basically the narcotics task force is the investigative division only it is multi-jurisdictional and has multiple agencies," said Dennis Rohr, Mandan police chief. "It's like having the specialization that larger departments have."

In 2005, the task force received $74,351 from the Bryne grant. Each of the five agencies contributes a 10 percent match bringing the budget's total to $109,340. The majority of the budget is spent on salaries for the task force agents. The remaining budget is used toward operating costs such as office space, supplies, communication equipment, contractual services, training and travel.

The task force allows law enforcement across the state to network and exchange information quickly.

"Crimes tend to cross jurisdictional lines. The task force can centralize all the information and it is easier to work cases because everything goes to one agency," said Maj. Nick Sevart of the Burleigh County Sheriff's Department. "We can cross reference that information and know what is going on in any jurisdiction."

Burleigh County Sheriff Steve Berg said the task force is something that is needed and if anything it should continue to grow, not get smaller.

"These people that are selling or transporting drugs don't stop at the river," Berg said. "The people in the drug world are very connected so that gives us an even greater reason as law enforcement to be connected."

Bismarck Police Chief Debbie Ness said if they are going to lose the grant, the agencies need to determine if they will be able to sustain the task force or revert to individual agencies. Each agency is looking at different scenarios to fund their share of the task force.

Rohr said he is looking at changes or cuts in support services or auxiliary services to fund their task force member.

"There used to be a time when we had to operate without grants," Rohr said. "I always warn that you should never have more than 10 to 15 percent of your budget dependent on grants because then you are going to have problems when funds run out or get cut."

Ness said the drug task force has received support from the state and local communities. Even though North Dakota is a small state, the leaders in the communities have taken huge strides to help prevent crime problems more than other states have. The local agencies will prioritize to keep the drug task force and go it alone to fund it internally if necessary.

"We will survive, we always do," she said.

(Reach reporter Kayla Cogdill at 250-8251 or kaylacogdill@bismarcktribune.net.)