Another potential budget victim: Drug crime patrol

In February 2005, Olympia police officer Matt Renschler helped investigate a case that led to the convictions of a man and woman who distributed heroin downtown.

Danna Harbert said during an interrogation that she purchased three "eight balls" of heroin every day in Tacoma to sell in Olympia, according to the police report. An "eight-ball" is 3.5 grams. Harbert and Brian James later were convicted of dealing heroin.

The Olympia Police Department's cases against James and Harbert would not have been successful without the assistance of the Thurston County Narcotics Task Force, which provided an informant, a wire for audio recordings and extra detectives to conduct surveillance, Renschler said. But if proposed budget cuts in Olympia become a reality next year, the task force might no longer have a presence in Olympia — making it more difficult for the city to make cases against drug traffickers, he said.

Five detectives work on the task force, covering different territories in Thurston County. Renschler covers Olympia, a position that the city could eliminate to save $107,765. Renschler likely would be transferred back to walking patrol in Olympia if his current position is eliminated.

Because the Olympia Police Department does not have a narcotics bureau, "if you want to arrest people who are dealing drugs and manufacturing drugs, the Olympia Police Department's going to have significant difficulty making the cases" if the cuts are made, he said.

Scott Staples, owner of the 4th Ave. Tavern, said the work of Renschler and other officers in getting rid of drug dealers downtown was "invaluable" when he bought the bar four years ago.

"When we took the bar over, the influence was there, and it no longer is there," Staples said, adding that "it's not time to give it back to the drug dealers and drug users."

Lt. Loreli Thompson, the task force's commander, confirmed that the task force's executive board will reconsider its participation in Olympia if the city stops funding the position. It is premature to say what would happen until the position is eliminated, she said.

Olympia Police Cmdr. Tor Bjornstad said the department is concerned about how losing a detective with the task force would affect Olympia. He said he thinks the task force still would work cases that involve the city.

"Olympia's not going to be some no man's land where they don't go into at all," Bjornstad said. However, the task force could do less enforcement at houses where low-level drug activity is a chronic problem.

Those types of cases "could be left to Olympia" police and the department's own resources, he said.

"That's a huge problem," Bjornstad said, because the department does not have the resources to cover all those types of cases without the task force's help.

Olympia police also don't have the resources to work cases in which a traffic stop turns into a large narcotics investigation, he said. Pulling officers from patrol to work those types of cases could create a gap in service, Bjornstad said. During an Oct. 10 traffic stop by an Olympia officer on Conger Avenue, for example, officers seized about 11 pounds of marijuana. After that, they called the task force to assist with the case, which included serving search warrants on cars and at a home on Scammel Avenue.

The drug task force's executive board has discussed paying for Olympia's narcotics detective for one year using money that the task force has recovered during drug seizures.

But Olympia Police Chief Gary Michel, who is on the executive board, said Wednesday that such a proposal wouldn't work because it's not sustainable in the long run; the task force would eventually go broke if it paid its salaries that way.

Also, it brings up issues of fairness for other local law enforcement agencies that contribute a detective to the task force but pay for their detectives with their own money.

Michel said that because of the city's budget crunch, "my anticipation for this year is that (the city's) position has been reduced or eliminated."

Olympia City Manager Steve Hall said the city's declining tax revenue has made job cuts a grim reality for all city departments. Under the current proposal for the city budget, jobs for 21 full-time city employees will be eliminated, he said.

"Every department in the city is going to feel the impact of this economic downturn," Hall said.

Thurston County Sheriff Dan Kimball, who also is on the task force's executive board, said the board will do everything it can to fund the endangered position.

"The executive board hasn't really decided what to do, pending the ultimate decision that Olympia makes," Kimball said.

Other potential problems

Renschler also said that with a depleted task force of four detectives instead of five, the unit's overall ability to make cases will be impaired — not just in Olympia.

"You're going to have significant difficulty making the same kind of cases we've been able to make this year and in years prior," he said. "Patrol and criminal detectives do not have the time, equipment and resources to effectively investigate drug dealers and manufacturers."

Task force detectives make cases against drug-trafficking organizations with undercover officers, Renschler said. The officers use "buy" money and audio equipment such as wires to make cases. They also turn people arrested into informants to help penetrate and make controlled buys from drug-trafficking organizations.

"Most people we arrest are turned into informants," he said. "We can't publicize their arrests for that reason, so the cases against them go unnoticed."

Renschler also said other local police departments don't have the quantities of buy money or access to wires that are necessary to make large drug cases.

Recent cases

During an interview Wednesday, Renschler listed the following as an example of a recent ongoing case based out of Olympia that the drug task force is involved in.

"For the past eight months, our unit has been investigating a drug-trafficking organization that was responsible for cooking at least an ounce of crack cocaine per day in the city of Olympia and selling it in the downtown area an estimated 20 to 50 times a day to street addicts over a two-month period," he said.

Nine people have been arrested as a result of the investigation, Renschler said. The task force is getting ready to forward the case to prosecutors, and it might be referred for federal charges, he said.

The following are some other cases in Olympia that the task force has put together in recent years, Renschler said:

• In July 2006, the narcotics task force arrested Travis Strachan, 29, at his home on Garfield Street, after task force members purchased crack cocaine from him. When police searched the home, they found 48.3 grams of crack cocaine with a street value of about $4,800.

Strachan told detectives that he "goes through one ounce of crack cocaine every other week." In May 2007, Strachan pleaded guilty to one count each of possession of cocaine with intent to deliver and unlawful manufacture of a controlled substance. He was sentenced to 44 months in prison.

• In December 2006, narcotics task force detectives seized 50 grams of cocaine and a loaded Glock pistol from a residence in the 1800 block of Chambers Street. Tyson Maxwell, 28, tried to escape by climbing out a bedroom window but was arrested and later charged with possession of cocaine with intent to deliver and being a felon in possession of a firearm. In May 2007, Maxwell was sentenced to 40 months in prison.

• In June 2007, narcotics task force detectives served a warrant at a residence in the 1000 block of Kiwi Court, seizing cocaine, hallucinogenic mushrooms and "pay/owe sheets" that listed narcotics transactions in the thousands of dollars. Lance Avery, 45, was arrested. Two women there admitted they had been smoking rock cocaine and that Avery was their supplier. Avery was sentenced to 20 months in prison in October 2007.

Renschler said that when he worked patrol in downtown Olympia before joining the task force, he participated in a bust at a problem drug house on Pear Street in 2006 after neighboring businesses complained about drug activity there. That case also relied on the help of the narcotics task force, he said. The former renter at the house, Tyler Andrews, pleaded guilty to selling marijuana from the residence.

Jeremy Pawloski covers public safety for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-5465 or jpawloski@theolympian.com.