committee to elect dennis w reid - Drug Task Force Alternative Task Force Definition: "A small team given responsibility for a short-term assignment with specific goals." Over the winter of 2008 I gathered information from a variety of public sources regarding the efficiency and cost of the Sanilac County Drug Task Force, and, the feasibility of reinventing the unit along with replacing the current millage to pay for the required jail renovations and payoff the 1995 construction bonds. During the course of that research I located a considerable amount of information on the various issues in support of the plan. I have decided to present the information gathered to the public in the form of installments. The sources of the information used in preparing my letters are readily available to the general public on line or in written form from the Michigan State Police Annual Uniform Crime Reports from 1997 thru 2004; demographic information on various Michigan Counties; the annual Sanilac County Drug Task Force Year End Reports from 2004 thru 2006 along with partial records and estimates for 2007; records from the Sanilac County 73A District Court; Sanilac County Prosecutor’s Office; Sanilac County Clerk’s Office and County Treasurer. If anyone disagrees with my opinion that Sanilac County Drug Task Force is an expensive and replaceable law enforcement unit, nearly all of the information referred to in my letters can be found in the public domain. Please take the time, check the information out and draw your own conclusions. This first installment will address the annual costs of DTF to the residents of Sanilac County for years 2004 thru 2007 by comparing the primary arrest rates of DTF to the annual expenses, along with the cost to the tax payers for each job created by the agency. These years were selected because the information is readily available and are the most relevant to our current situation. From my sources within Sanilac County law enforcement a “primary arrest” for purposes of my comparison is defined as a narcotics law violation starting with an investigation and ending with an arrest by the drug task force. In 2004 DTF made 59 such primary arrests and spent $644,754.71 in taxpayer money that year to accomplish them. Dividing that annual expense by the number of primary arrests accomplished in 2004 by DTF, the average cost to Sanilac County taxpayers per arrest was $10,928.03. In 2005 DTF made 46 primary arrests and spent $634,785.12, or $13,799.68 to accomplish each arrest. In 2006 DTF made 36 primary arrests and spent $627,600.52, or $17,433.35 per arrest. Giving DTF the benefit of the doubt and using an estimated number of primary arrests for 2007 (since the actual numbers have not been published as of yet), Sanilac DTF has made approximately 40 primary arrests and spent approximately $650,000 total to accomplish that number, or approximately $16,250.00 per primary arrest. Based upon these totals since the beginning of 2004 thru the end of 2007, Sanilac DTF has cost the taxpayers approximately $2,557,140.35 to operate as a separate drug enforcement unit. Over the same 4 year period Sanilac DTF made approximately 181 primary arrests. Using the same method of calculation as used above the average cost over the 4 years was approximately $14,127.84 per primary arrest. The average annual DTF expense per primary arrest is unsurpassed by any other law enforcement agency in the history of Sanilac County or the history of the Thumb of Michigan for that matter. I will address the arrest rate of DTF in comparison to other law enforcement agencies in Sanilac County and across Michigan in my next letter, and let me say initially it is nothing special. The arrest records that I will outline in a future letter prove beyond debate that uniformed law enforcement officers in Sanilac County are producing the majority of drug arrests resulting in prosecutions. These uniformed officers are the tip of the spear when it comes to drug enforcement efforts in the County, and accomplishing it all without flashy news stories, lavish budgets, and with the same conviction rates as Sanilac DTF but at a fraction of the overall cost per arrest. This method of drug enforcement with proven accomplishments and with substantial savings to the taxpayers, is currently used quite effectively throughout the State of Michigan and is something the residents of Sanilac County need to seriously think about adopting here. If the reported employee information is correct for 2004 thru 2007 than DTF provides 6 full time jobs in the County. In analyzing the cost of each job provided to the taxpayers by dividing the annual expense of the unit by 6, in 2004 each job cost us $107,458.12 to provide. The cost per job to the County taxpayers in 2005 was $105,797.52. In 2006 the cost was $104,600.08 per job and in 2007 it cost the taxpayers approximately $108,000.00 per job. I realize that each DTF employee earns substantially less than these amounts in salaries and benefits, but the purpose of this comparison is to show what the average annual expense is to the County taxpayers to provide someone with the benefit of a good paying job with benefits which most Sanilac County residents do not have. This method of analysis really puts Sanilac DTF into prospective for the average person and presents a very simple way of assessing the cost of the unit. If the primary purpose of DTF is to investigate and arrest suspects involved in illegal narcotic crimes occurring within the County, these figures represent the actual cost to the taxpayers per primary arrest and per job created in actual dollars and cents we can all understand. I realize DTF has provided and continues to provide other services to the residents of Sanilac County, but under my plan drug enforcement would be carried out by a smaller and less expensive unit when integrated into the Sheriff’s Department, which, if implemented properly could free up to $500,000 per year in revenue to renovate the jail. Replacement millage revenue allocated in this fashion would bring Sanilac County’s drug enforcement efforts in line with the vast majority of other Michigan Counties with populations under 60,000 residents. Under my proposed plan reasonable drug enforcement efforts would continue to be provided to the residents of Sanilac County including services such as secondary arrests, intelligence gathering and assisting other law enforcement agencies with their investigations. Streamlined drug enforcement efforts could be provided to the residents with efficiency but at a far lower cost while at the same time providing a reliable and safe source of revenue to pay for the needed jail repairs. A realistic and workable payoff plan for the 1995 jail construction bonds coming due in 2013 could finally be created as well. In reviewing the County budgets for 2004 thru 2007 there is little room for cuts that would not seriously affect every other County office and agency funded by those budgets for many years to come. We really have few options open to us at this time. Simply laying off a few County employees and/or shaving money from each department’s annual budget cannot raise the kind of money needed in the time frame required to accomplish the repairs let alone payoff the 1995 construction bonds. Innovative thinking and creative planning must be used if we are to raise the required funds without increasing property taxes. The age old solution to fiscal problems used by politicians around the world is greater taxation. When ruling bodies need money they turn to Chapter One of the professional politicians handbook entitled How To Tax Your Friends and Neighbors and Not Get Lynched In The Process, 1st Edition, (it’s never been updated), and before we all know what hit us the money appears. Really original thinking and quite mystical to some folks until tax time, then it’s too late. Rethinking our drug enforcement efforts, eliminating the current DTF millage and passing a replacement millage is the only feasible alternative available to us. County politicians and some in law enforcement will not discuss this as a solution. They are afraid or are so opposed to the prospects of change that they would rather keep throwing increasing amounts of money at a perceived problem with little thought to other successful methods of drug enforcement currently in use across Michigan. In a county with current unemployment between 7 and 8%, where over 13% of the residents now live below the poverty line, and where over ½ of the working adults support their families by earning little more than $19,000.00 per year, if we are to renovate our current jail and payoff the 1995 bonds within this century I believe we must find a more cost efficient method of drug enforcement before we increase our property taxes or encumber the next yet unborn generation of County residents. Agree or disagree, we must all start thinking outside of the box for ways to solve these problems. I recently undertook a written survey questioning 31 County Prosecutors about the type of drug enforcement methods currently used by every Michigan county with populations between 20,000 and 60,000 residents. Of the 31 Counties reveiwed only two counties, I repeat two counties, use county dedicated and county funded drug enforcement units, and Sanilac County is one of them. The survey clearly shows that only one other county in Michigan with similar populations uses the same type of unit that we fund here. All other counties surveyed either participate in joint operations with neighboring counties thereby reducing the costs to taxpayers in both counties, or they use normal law enforcement with the assistance of the Michigan State Police drug enforcement units. In addition a comparison of arrest rates between all 31 Counties proves the use of a dedicated county funded unit does little or nothing to increase arrest and conviction rates. Now why after a 20 year history of DTF drug enforcement in Sanilac County do we still have a drug problem requiring hundreds of thousands of dollars per year?

ELECT

DENNIS W. REID

SANILAC COUNTY DISTRICT JUDGE

42 lexington street
sandusky, MI 48471
ph: 810-648-2311
fax: 810-648-2604
denreid@att.net

Drug Task Force Alternative

Task Force Definition:

"A small team given responsibility for a short-term assignment with specific goals."

Over the winter of 2008 I gathered information from a variety of public sources regarding the efficiency and cost of the Sanilac County Drug Task Force, and, the feasibility of reinventing the unit along with replacing the current millage to pay for the required jail renovations and payoff the 1995 construction bonds. During the course of that research I located a considerable amount of information on the various issues in support of the plan. I have decided to present the information gathered to the public in the form of installments. The sources of the information used in preparing my letters are readily available to the general public on line or in written form from the Michigan State Police Annual Uniform Crime Reports from 1997 thru 2004; demographic information on various Michigan Counties; the annual Sanilac County Drug Task Force Year End Reports from 2004 thru 2006 along with partial records and estimates for 2007; records from the Sanilac County 73A District Court; Sanilac County Prosecutor’s Office; Sanilac County Clerk’s Office and County Treasurer. If anyone disagrees with my opinion that Sanilac County Drug Task Force is an expensive and replaceable law enforcement unit, nearly all of the information referred to in my letters can be found in the public domain. Please take the time, check the information out and draw your own conclusions.

This first installment will address the annual costs of DTF to the residents of Sanilac County for years 2004 thru 2007 by comparing the primary arrest rates of DTF to the annual expenses, along with the cost to the tax payers for each job created by the agency. These years were selected because the information is readily available and are the most relevant to our current situation.

From my sources within Sanilac County law enforcement a “primary arrest” for purposes of my comparison is defined as a narcotics law violation starting with an investigation and ending with an arrest by the drug task force.

In 2004 DTF made 59 such primary arrests and spent $644,754.71 in taxpayer money that year to accomplish them. Dividing that annual expense by the number of primary arrests accomplished in 2004 by DTF, the average cost to Sanilac County taxpayers per arrest was $10,928.03. In 2005 DTF made 46 primary arrests and spent $634,785.12, or $13,799.68 to accomplish each arrest. In 2006 DTF made 36 primary arrests and spent $627,600.52, or $17,433.35 per arrest. Giving DTF the benefit of the doubt and using an estimated number of primary arrests for 2007 (since the actual numbers have not been published as of yet), Sanilac DTF has made approximately 40 primary arrests and spent approximately $650,000 total to accomplish that number, or approximately $16,250.00 per primary arrest.

Based upon these totals since the beginning of 2004 thru the end of 2007, Sanilac DTF has cost the taxpayers approximately $2,557,140.35 to operate as a separate drug enforcement unit. Over the same 4 year period Sanilac DTF made approximately 181 primary arrests. Using the same method of calculation as used above the average cost over the 4 years was approximately $14,127.84 per primary arrest.

The average annual DTF expense per primary arrest is unsurpassed by any other law enforcement agency in the history of Sanilac County or the history of the Thumb of Michigan for that matter. I will address the arrest rate of DTF in comparison to other law enforcement agencies in Sanilac County and across Michigan in my next letter, and let me say initially it is nothing special.

The arrest records that I will outline in a future letter prove beyond debate that uniformed law enforcement officers in Sanilac County are producing the majority of drug arrests resulting in prosecutions. These uniformed officers are the tip of the spear when it comes to drug enforcement efforts in the County, and accomplishing it all without flashy news stories, lavish budgets, and with the same conviction rates as Sanilac DTF but at a fraction of the overall cost per arrest. This method of drug enforcement with proven accomplishments and with substantial savings to the taxpayers, is currently used quite effectively throughout the State of Michigan and is something the residents of Sanilac County need to seriously think about adopting here.

If the reported employee information is correct for 2004 thru 2007 than DTF provides 6 full time jobs in the County. In analyzing the cost of each job provided to the taxpayers by dividing the annual expense of the unit by 6, in 2004 each job cost us $107,458.12 to provide. The cost per job to the County taxpayers in 2005 was $105,797.52. In 2006 the cost was $104,600.08 per job and in 2007 it cost the taxpayers approximately $108,000.00 per job. I realize that each DTF employee earns substantially less than these amounts in salaries and benefits, but the purpose of this comparison is to show what the average annual expense is to the County taxpayers to provide someone with the benefit of a good paying job with benefits which most Sanilac County residents do not have.

This method of analysis really puts Sanilac DTF into prospective for the average person and presents a very simple way of assessing the cost of the unit. If the primary purpose of DTF is to investigate and arrest suspects involved in illegal narcotic crimes occurring within the County, these figures represent the actual cost to the taxpayers per primary arrest and per job created in actual dollars and cents we can all understand.

I realize DTF has provided and continues to provide other services to the residents of Sanilac County, but under my plan drug enforcement would be carried out by a smaller and less expensive unit when integrated into the Sheriff’s Department, which, if implemented properly could free up to $500,000 per year in revenue to renovate the jail. Replacement millage revenue allocated in this fashion would bring Sanilac County’s drug enforcement efforts in line with the vast majority of other Michigan Counties with populations under 60,000 residents.

Under my proposed plan reasonable drug enforcement efforts would continue to be provided to the residents of Sanilac County including services such as secondary arrests, intelligence gathering and assisting other law enforcement agencies with their investigations. Streamlined drug enforcement efforts could be provided to the residents with efficiency but at a far lower cost while at the same time providing a reliable and safe source of revenue to pay for the needed jail repairs. A realistic and workable payoff plan for the 1995 jail construction bonds coming due in 2013 could finally be created as well.

In reviewing the County budgets for 2004 thru 2007 there is little room for cuts that would not seriously affect every other County office and agency funded by those budgets for many years to come. We really have few options open to us at this time. Simply laying off a few County employees and/or shaving money from each department’s annual budget cannot raise the kind of money needed in the time frame required to accomplish the repairs let alone payoff the 1995 construction bonds. Innovative thinking and creative planning must be used if we are to raise the required funds without increasing property taxes.

The age old solution to fiscal problems used by politicians around the world is greater taxation. When ruling bodies need money they turn to Chapter One of the professional politicians handbook entitled How To Tax Your Friends and Neighbors and Not Get Lynched In The Process, 1^st Edition, (it’s never been updated), and before we all know what hit us the money appears. Really original thinking and quite mystical to some folks until tax time, then it’s too late.

Rethinking our drug enforcement efforts, eliminating the current DTF millage and passing a replacement millage is the only feasible alternative available to us. County politicians and some in law enforcement will not discuss this as a solution. They are afraid or are so opposed to the prospects of change that they would rather keep throwing increasing amounts of money at a perceived problem with little thought to other successful methods of drug enforcement currently in use across Michigan.

In a county with current unemployment between 7 and 8%, where over 13% of the residents now live below the poverty line, and where over ½ of the working adults support their families by earning little more than $19,000.00 per year, if we are to renovate our current jail and payoff the 1995 bonds within this century I believe we must find a more cost efficient method of drug enforcement before we increase our property taxes or encumber the next yet unborn generation of County residents. Agree or disagree, we must all start thinking outside of the box for ways to solve these problems.

I recently undertook a written survey questioning 31 County Prosecutors about the type of drug enforcement methods currently used by every Michigan county with populations between 20,000 and 60,000 residents. Of the 31 Counties reveiwed only two counties, I repeat two counties, use county dedicated and county funded drug enforcement units, and Sanilac County is one of them. The survey clearly shows that only one other county in Michigan with similar populations uses the same type of unit that we fund here. All other counties surveyed either participate in joint operations with neighboring counties thereby reducing the costs to taxpayers in both counties, or they use normal law enforcement with the assistance of the Michigan State Police drug enforcement units.

In addition a comparison of arrest rates between all 31 Counties proves the use of a dedicated county funded unit does little or nothing to increase arrest and conviction rates. Now why after a 20 year history of DTF drug enforcement in Sanilac County do we still have a drug problem requiring hundreds of thousands of dollars per year?

Paid for by the Committee to Elect Dennis W. Reid

P.O. Box 127

Sandusky, Michigan 48471

42 lexington street
sandusky, MI 48471
ph: 810-648-2311
fax: 810-648-2604
denreid@att.net