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NC NARCNC NARCOfficial Publication of the North Carolina Narcotic Enforcement Officer’s Association

Winter, 2005 Vol. 7, No. 1

NCNEOA 2004-2005 Off icers

C o n t e n t s t h i s i s s u e

On the cover: “The conference hotel.” NCNARC is published two times a year by the North Carolina Narcotics Enforcement Officer’s Association, P.O.Box 266, Elizabethtown, NC 28337, Phone: 910-862-6968, Internet: www.ncnarc.org. Steve Surratt, editor: Goldsboro, NC. NCNEOA is a chartermember of the National Narcotic Officers’ Associations Coalition (NNOAC) and an affiliate of the International Narcotics Enforcement Officers Association(INEOA).

Vice-President’s Message ......................................................................................................................................................................... 3Application for Membership ..................................................................................................................................................................... 4Guidelines for the Crack Investigator .................................................................................................................................................. 5NCNEOA Visits Congress ............................................................................................................................................................................ 6NCNARC/NCNEOA Past Presidents ........................................................................................................................................................ 6NCNEOA Sponsors NC OCDETF Conference .......................................................................................................................................... 9Project Safe Neighborhoods ................................................................................................................................................................... 12Admission-Based Drug Tax Assessments .......................................................................................................................................... 19Narcotics Digest.......................................................................................................................................................................................... 21NCNEOA Awards Program..................................................................................................................................................................... 24Support Our Corporate Sponsors ........................................................................................................................................................ 25

PRESIDENTTim McLawhorn

Beaufort County Sheriff's Office210 N. Market St

Washington, NC 27889(252) 946-0101

Pager (252) [email protected]

FIRST VICE PRESIDENTChris P. LaCarter

Hickory Police Department347 2nd Avenue SWHickory, NC 28602

(828) [email protected]

SECOND VICE PRESIDENTRandy Johnson

NC SBI1876 Bureau Dr.

Fayetteville, NC 28301(910) 486-1262

[email protected]

SECRETARYMarty Ferrell

High Point Police Department1009 Leonard Avenue

High Point, NC 27263(336) 887-7871

[email protected]

TREASURERPhillip Little

Bladen County Sheriff's OfficeP.O. Box 266

Elizabethtown, NC 28337(910) 862-6968

[email protected]

SGT.-AT-ARMS/EASTJohn Smith

Cumberland Co. Sheriff's Office131 Dick Street

Fayetteville, NC 28301(910) 321-6670

[email protected]

SGT.-AT-ARMS/WESTKevin Black

Iredell County Sheriff's OfficeP.O. Box 287

Statesville, NC 28687(704) 924-4073

[email protected]

TRAININGCOORDINATOR

Scott ParkerNash County Sheriff's Office

P.O. Box 9045Rocky Mount, NC 27804


WEST TRAININGCOORDINATOR

Peyton ColvardAshe County Sheriff's Office

205 Academy St.Jefferson, NC 28640


MAGAZINEEDITOR

Steve SurrattField Program Specialist "NDIC"

N. C. and S.C.Goldsboro, NC(919) 222-1441

[email protected]

IMMEDIATEPAST PRESIDENT

Phil HambyForsyth County Sheriff's Office

P.O. Box 20923Winston Salem, NC 27120(336) 748-4100 [email protected]

T h e N C N A R C 3www.ncnarc.org

A message from the vice-presidentBy Chris LaCarter, NCNEOA Vice-President

A message from the vice-president

I would like to thank all who attended the first annualstatewide OCDETF/Eastforce Fall Training Conferencethat was held at Sunset Beach, North Carolina. Thisconference was made possible by the joint commitmentsand partnerships between the Eastern, Middle, and West-ern Districts of the United States Attorney’s Office, NorthCarolina National Guard, and the North Carolina Nar-cotic Enforcement Officers Association.

Over four hundred and fifty narcotic agents fromacross the State of North Carolina attended the confer-ence. These agents received outstanding training pro-vided by Eric Evenson, Don Connelly, and the entire staffof the United States Attorney’s Office Eastern District ofNorth Carolina. These individuals are to be commendedfor there dedication to the improvement of educationwithin the field of narcotics.

For many years the OCDETF/Eastforce Fall TrainingConference has been focused on the training of agents fromthe Eastern District of North Carolina. Through new part-nerships this conference has been made available to agentsstatewide. An annually statewide OCDETF/Eastforce FallConference will become a staple in North Carolinas’ battleagainst illegal drugs and their distribution. I encourage thosewho were unable to attend the 2004 conference to makeevery effort to attend the upcoming statewide 2005OCDETF/Eastforce Fall Training Conference.

Sincerely,

Chris LaCarter Vice-President NCNEOA

2004 OCDETF/EASTFORCE FALL TRAINING CONFERENCE

Spring 2005 NCNEOA Training ConferenceCourtyard Marriot at Carolina Beach

North Carolina

May 22- May 26, 2005Registration and hotel information at:

www.ncnarc.org

T h e N C N A R C4 www.ncnarc.org

NCNEOAORGANIZED ENFORCEMENT AGAINST NARCOTICS

APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIPGeneral membership is open to any sworn law enforcement officer who is employed full-time by a dulyconstituted governmental authority and who is engaged in the enforcement of laws governing illegal drugsand narcotics.NAME:___________________________________________________________________________

DOB: _____________________ SSN ___________________________________________

MAILING

ADDRESS:___________________________________________________________________________

CITY: _______________________________ STATE: ________________ ZIP CODE: _____________

AGENCY: __________________________________________ RANK:_________________________

TELEPHONE WORK: _________________________ HOME: ________________________________

E-MAIL: ______________________________________________________________

BENEFICIARY NAME/ADDRESS:

________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

INSTRUCTOR INFORMATIONDO YOU HAVE A N.C. TRAINING & STANDARDS CERTIFICATION? ______ YES ______ NO

IF SO, DO YOU HAVE A SPECIALTY? ______ YES ______ NO

LIST: ____________________________________________________________________________

DATE OF APPLICATION: ____________________

APPLICANT SIGNATURE: ____________________________________________________________

______ NEW MEMBER ( $25.00 )

______ RENEWAL ( $25.00 ) *ALL MEMBERSHIPS EXPIRE ON DECEMBER 31ST*

______ ASSOCIATE ( $25.00 )

Associate Membership is open to any individual with an expressed interest in the work of NCNEOA and a willingness to support the purposes of the NCNEOA.

Payment of annual dues includes subscription to NCNARC publications.MAKE CHECKS PAYABLE TO: NCNEOA

MAIL APPLICATION TO: PHILLIP LITTLE, P.O. BOX 266, ELIZABETHTOWN, NC 28337FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL: PHILLIP LITTLE 910-862-6968 or any board member.


GUIDEL INESFOR THE CRACK INVESTIGATOR

By Michael E. Grimes, DEA, Retired

No pun intended here.

crack adj: of superior excellence or ability. (Merriam-Webster’s. 2001)

Your case might involve crack but these techniques willapply to any investigation.

This article is intended to help you enhance yourinvestigation through surveillance, reviewing your own filesand evidence, good report writing, networking, and maintaininga good relationship with the prosecutor. I challenge you toread this article and give the following four steps a try:

STEP ONEEvery time I went out on surveillance I ALWAYS learned

something I did not know about my targets. I firmly believethat one of the major investigative failures of narcotics officersis that they do not conduct enough surveillance. Most of thesurveillance operations that you conduct have a specificpurpose such as an undercover operation, an informant buy,a wiretap, or a fugitive hunt.

But have you ever thought about conducting surveillancewith no specific purpose other than for the sake of seeingwhat goes on in the everyday life of your targets? Surprise,surprise, is what will happen; this is almost a guarantee. Ichallenge each of you to give this a try and here is what youdo.

Find out where your target resides, are you sure you know?What vehicle does the target drive? What time does he getup in the morning? Where does he go and whom does hemeet? If you do not already know the answers then somesurveillance is in order. Here we go.

It will only take two officers and two surveillance cars.Make morning passes by the target’s residence. As you makelater and later passes by the target’s residence you willdetermine what time he gets up and leaves. Now you knowwhat time to set up. You do not want to set up at 6:00am onlyto find out this guy does not get up until 2:00pm or even later;that’s a lot of coffee and donuts!

When your target finally gets up and leaves conduct aloose surveillance. If you know anything about the target

you will probably know where he is going when he heads in acertain direction. If you lose him, do not give up. Startchecking his known haunts. If you do not know the haunts,then you know very little about your target. When you findhim, set up again and keep the surveillance going all day untilyou put him back in bed. I promise this will be an amazingexperience for you because of the vast wealth of informationyou will learn about your own investigation.

Here’s what your target will do during the day, and whatyou will learn. He will meet his associates both criminal andnon-criminal. On the very first day you will identify someonein the organization you did not know about. You might evenget to see what your informants are up to.

Your target will connect with his assets; be they banks,automobiles, real estate, or other investments. This may takemore time. A drug dealer will frequently use a “straw owner”for his assets. This is someone who falsely and illegally titlesproperty for the benefit of another. Your target will visit orcome in contact with this asset. You will find residenceswhere the target might be found later in case he does notshow up for court. And you will find his girlfriends. You nowhave the opportunity to set up multiple mail covers that usuallylead to hidden assets. You can also subpoena the telephonerecords from the residences you have located and identifycell telephone companies through the mail covers.

If you conduct enough surveillance you will identify thesource of supply. You already know there is a source andalthough your target might not meet his source “hand-to-hand,”he must have contact with the source. The target might meeta courier who will meet the source. Do you even know thesource? Some sort of contact with the source will occur atleast once a week, maybe daily.

If you do not know the source, it may not becomeimmediately apparent when the source does show up in yoursurveillance. You will see it happen but it may be a fewmonths later that an informant identifies the source and thenyou make the connection. You now have a corroboratedwitness because you saw the meeting. This is criticalevidence when an officer can take the stand and tell a juryabout the meeting; you might even have some pictures!

Continued on next pageYou may find vital evidence that was right there in your desk all the time.


And do not forget the target’s underlings; they are yourfuture informants and witnesses. You might see the targetdeliver to one of the underlings. This will give you theopportunity for a stop and frisk of the underling. If you finddrugs on this stop your target has no standing on the legalityof the stop. This is not to suggest that you knowingly makean illegal stop and frisk.

The opportunities available and the resources developedduring this type of surveillance are endless. If I am wrongabout this, nothing has been wasted other than a few gallonsof gasoline. If I am right, you may get yourself a new G-ride.

STEP TWOThe next step is to continually review your own files and

evidence. If you have a photographic memory which allowsyou to recall every written word and every piece of evidencethis step will not be necessary. There are a few of you outthere who can recall everything with perfection, but for therest of us we should do the following.

I always found it helpful to make copies of all reports anddocumentary evidence and have a separate file in which Icould make notations directly on the copies of the reports ordocumentary evidence. I call these working files. Otherthan your initials and the date of seizure, ABSOLUTELY DONOT make any other notations on the original reports orevidence.

About every two months or so, take a few minutes toread over your working files and review the copieddocumentary evidence. What you find may amaze you. Youmay find vital evidence that was right there in your desk allthe time but had no meaning at the time you first obtained it.Conducting this review will fit very nicely with the surveillance.While on surveillance you might see the target meet someone,then find this person’s identity in the evidence files. I recentlyhad a conversation with a prosecutor about this and she relatedto me that she frequently finds events in reports that theinvestigator either did not know about or had forgotten.

STEP THREENetworking is talking to officers who might have some

interest in your investigation. These officers might be foundin your own agency! If you share your information with othersthey are more likely to give you intelligence information. Thisis especially true when talking to officers in another jurisdictionor state. I never had an officer “steal” an investigation justbecause I told them something they did not know. I thinkthere is an old saying, “Give, and you shall receive.”

Share your information, and then ask for help. The resultswill amaze you. Every time I shared information with anotherofficer who was familiar with my target, I received more inreturn. Officers can be territorial and protective of their

intelligence information. But once they learn that you are nottrying to take something from them they will open up. This isnot to say that every officer is willing to share but if you donot take the first step and try this technique it will never workon its own.

STEP FOURLast but not least is your relationship with the prosecutor.

How would you like it if you were a prosecutor and an officerwalked into your office with a box full of files and demandedindictments? This is not how it works. As soon as you knowyou have a complicated and far-reaching conspiracy case onyour hands, set up an appointment with a prosecutor. Youabsolutely cannot go to this meeting without investigativereports that details your investigation up to the date of themeeting.

Ever been in a prosecutor’s office and seen them “glazeover” when you try to make points about what a great caseyou have been investigating? This will always happen if youhave no reports to back up your great “points.” If you havedetailed reports to take to this first meeting this is what I call“putting the prosecutor’s feet in the fire!” The prosecutorhas little choice but to listen and take an interest when facedwith great reports. I have been there many times and it alwaysworks.

Once you get the prosecutor involved, keep them updatedwith both written and verbal reports. Involve the prosecutorin major tactical decisions and get their legal opinionsbeforehand. Above all, get the prosecutor to review yoursearch warrants before going to the magistrate. Someprosecutors actually have a pretty good understanding of theFourth Amendment and just might be able to save some soon-to-be-seized evidence.

ABOUT THE AUTHORMichael E. Grimes is retired from 28 years service as a Federal

Narcotics Agent having served with the Bureau of Narcotics andDangerous Drugs and the Drug Enforcement Administration.Grimes is a leading expert in the field of informant development andcontrol and is the author of “A Guide for Developing andControlling Informants,” published by LawTech. In addition tocarrying a full caseload during his career with DEA, Grimes was aprimary instructor in Federal, state, and local law enforcementacademies, in the fields of informant handling, report writing, andconducting asset forfeiture investigations.

NCNEOA and Mike Grimes would like very much to hear fromyou with your ideas about enhancing investigations. Perhaps wecan publish another article with a list of your ideas. Send yourideas to Steve Surratt (NCNEOA Magazine Editor) [email protected], or to Michael [email protected]. We will publish your ideas, along withyour name and agency if requested.

GUIDELINES, cont.


Members of North Carolina Narcotics Enforce-ment Officers Association’s Congressionalaffairs delegation visited members of Con-

gress from North Carolina during the National NarcoticOfficers Associations Coalition (NNOAC) meeting in thenation’s capitol during March 2004. Members personallyvisited with each of NC’s Congress members or their keystaffers.

Some of the issues addressed with Congress includedcontinuation of funding for the Byrne, COPS and LLEBGgrants programs. Other issues discussed with members ofCongress included the continued funding for the NationalGuard Counter Drug program, and extradition issues withMexico. Position papers were prepared beforehand andpresented to the members of Congress during the visits.

North Carolina was twelfth in the nation for states re-ceiving Byrne allocations last year. NC agencies received13 million dollars in Byrne funds for 2004, which is a majorsource of funding across the nation for counter drug anddemand reduction programs. The future of many multi-jurisdictional drug task forces depends on that program.COPS and LLEBG grants are also a vital funding source

for law enforcement agencies in North Carolina and acrossthe nation. Under the 2004-2005 federal budget proposalsthese programs were to be combined under HomelandSecurity and included significant Congressional funding re-ductions. This would make application for the grants, whichhistorically have been available only to law enforcement,competitive with EMS, Emergency Management and Fireagencies. The Coalition’s position was to at least leavethe programs in place with the same funding levels as lastyear. The total funding for Byrne Formula Allocation for2004 was $474,919,602.

Currently there have been thirteen murders of law en-forcement officers nationwide involving Mexican nation-als who have escaped back across the border into Mexico.So far not one of these criminals has been extradited backto the United States. Although an extradition treaty is inplace between the two countries, the Mexican SupremeCourt has not honored the treaty. Many of these criminalsare either in prison in Mexico or their location is known.We (NNOAC) have asked Congress to put pressure on

NCNEOA Visits U.S. Congress

Continued on next page

NCNARC / NCNEOA Past Presidents1981 Ken Razza, Hickory Police Department

1982 Ken Razza, Hickory Police Department

1983 Ken Razza, Hickory Police Department

1984 Jim Morris, Emerald Isle Police Department

1985 Anthony Dennis, Carteret County Sheriff ’s Department

1986 Ralph McKinney, Cleveland County Sheriff ’s Office



1989 Tony Keller, Catawba County Sheriff ’s Office



1992 Lee Tate, Edgecombe County Drug Task Force

1993 Phillip Little, Bladen County Sheriff ’s Office

1994 Kevin Duckworth, Morganton Police Department

1995 Scott Parker, Nash County Sheriff ’s Office

1996 Bob Kennedy, Boone Police Department

1997 Leonard Hudson, Beaufort County Sheriff ’s Office

1998 Tim Nelson, NC State Bureau of Investigation

1999 Marty Ferrell, High Point Police Department

2000 George Shaver, New Bern Police Department

2001 Steve Surratt, NC State Bureau of Investigation

2002 Jeff Eddins, NC State Bureau of Investigation

2003 Phil Hamby, Forsyth County Sheriff ’s Office


The NNOAC hosted a reception in Washington,D.C. for the Senators and Congressman in theHearing Room of the Rayburn House OfficeBuilding, on March 17, 2004.

Tony Keller, Phil Little, CongressmanHoward Coble, Scott Parker and TimMcLawhorn.

Tony Keller, Phil Little, Congressman Bob Etheridge,NNOAC President Ron Brooks, Scott Parker and TimMcLawhorn.

Mexico, who enjoys a free trade agreement, to send thesemurderers back to the US to stand trial and bring closureto the cases for family members.

Congress was also asked to resist any efforts nation-ally for legalization of marijuana. Currently several statesunder the cover of “medicalization” have passed lawslegalizing marijuana use even though it remains a viola-tion under federal laws.

The day on the “Hill” was very full and tiring for mem-bers of the legislative delegation. Scheduling was verytight and required meetings about every 30-45 minutes tocover the fifteen members of Congress from North Caro-lina. That evening NNOAC hosted a reception for mem-bers of Congress in the Hearing Room of the HouseGovernment Reform Committee, at the Rayburn HouseOffice Building. Some of the members attending includedNorth Carolina Congressmen Bob Etheridge, 2nd districtand Howard Coble, 6th district shown in the photographswith delegation members Phil Little, Tony Keller, ScottParker and NCNEOA president Tim McLawhorn.

The Congressional visits were very positive and thecommittee felt was very productive.

Submitted by: Phil Little, Chairman, LegislativeCommittee, NC Narcotics Enforcement Officers As-sociation

Tony Keller, Phil Little, Congressman Bob Etheridge,Scott Parker and Tim McLawhorn .

NCNEOA Visits U.S. Congress, cont.


NC OCDETF ConferenceThe NC OCDETF Conference in Sunset Beach, November 17-19, 2004 was co-sponsored by NCNEOA.

NCNEOA Board Members selling T-Shirts at the conference.

Attorney Ralph Strickland provides Legal Briefs to the 465conference attendees.

NCNEOA 2nd Vice President Randy Johnson caught during abreak planning another trip to N. Myrtle Beach.

AUSA Eric Evenson instructs new attendees in one of the break-out classes.

AUSA Bobby Higdon instructs “Alumni” track attendees inanother break-out class.

The Carolina Conference Center at Sea Trail was the site of the2004 NC OCDETF Conference


The National Drug Intelligence Center again provided drugtrend information for the conference attendees.

Members of the NC National Guard Counter-Drug T/F duringthe banquet.

AUSA Eric Evenson was master of ceremonies at the conferencebanquet.

NCNEOA 1st Vice President Chris LaCarter addresses thebanquet.

Kirstin Marie Elrod, Miss North Carolina 2004 addressed thebanquet about her platform, “Counteracting Chemical andSubstance Abuse.”

Frank Whitney, US Attorney for the Eastern District of NorthCarolina.

NC OCDETF Conference


Left: Gretchen Shappert, US Attorney for the Western District ofNorth Carolina was the keynote speaker at the OCDETFBanquet.

Left: Major Brad Knight of theNC National Guard Counter-Drug T/F is presented an awardat the banquet by US AttorneysWhitney and Shappert.

NCNEOA Immediate Past-President Phil Hamby is presented anaward by Chris LaCarter.

Above: Members of the NCNEOA Board pose with Miss NorthCarolina, Kirstin Marie Elrod.

Bobby Higdon and Eric Evenson pose with Miss North Carolina.

NC OCDETF Conference


by Jane J. Jackson, Assistant United States Attorney and ProjectSafe Neighborhoods Coordinator for the Eastern District of NorthCarolina with contributions from Robert A.J. Lang, AssistantUnited States Attorney and Project Safe Neighborhoods Coordi-nator for the Middle District of North Carolina, and RobertGleason, Assistant United States Attorney and Project Safe Neigh-borhoods Coordinator for the Western District of North Carolina

SUMMARYIn 2001, President George W. Bush introduced Project Safe

Neighborhoods, a comprehensive, strategic approach to reducinggun crime in America through gun law enforcement. This approachtargets gun crime and violent offenders in an effort to make ourstreets and communities safer. The goal is straightforward andclear - to disrupt gun violence strategically and comprehensively,using all available enforcement and prosecutorial tools; unitingfederal, state, and local efforts; and leveraging new resources at alllevels.

There are five essential elements required for a vigorous andsuccessful gun violence reduction plan: (1) Partnership, (2) Strate-gic Planning, (3) Training, (4) Community Outreach and PublicAwareness, and (5) Accountability. Mindful of the varying prob-lems facing each district, this initiative does not mandate a “one-size-fits-all” approach that supplants effective strategies already inplace in each district. Instead, these elements will be tailored to theneeds of each individual district and the gun violence programtherein. Through Project Safe Neighborhoods, the Administra-tion will build on past successes in gun violence reduction byexpanding and intensifying the crackdown on criminals with guns,and deterring others from engaging in acts of violence.

Partnerships: State and federal agencies are developing local-ized task forces, either forming new ones, or revitalizing alreadyexisting program to ensure that all agencies taking firearms intocustody fully trace those firearms through ATF and will work withATF to encourage state and local partner to do the same. Compre-hensive tracing of firearms recovered by police allows ATF to pro-vide to the community an essential vision of patterns of crime gunactivity and the sources of those guns. The task force will all serveto unify existing law enforcement initiatives as to gun violence. Tothe extent possible, the PSN partnership will unify these existinginitiatives to create a more strategic, focused, and effective district-wide gun violence reduction initiatives.

Strategic Plan: A cohesive, organized plan for each task force,spearheaded by the ATF and USAO will depend on the specificneeds and causes of gun crime in each individual community. Theultimate goal for each task force is to

$ Increase prosecution of violent organizations$ Heighten enforcement of all federal laws against illegal

gun traffickers, and

$ Renew aggressive enforcement of federal firearmslaws

Creating a tailored strategic plan requires several steps. First,the task force must assess the nature and scope of gun-relatedcrime in the district and/or the major metropolitan areas within thedistrict. All task force members must work together to implementthe plan. Finally, the task force must be able to evaluate and reas-sess the success and failures of the plan in order to move forwardand continue in order to have a significant and lasting impact ongun crime. The most successful plans are those that utilize theskills of each partner for a comprehensive and coordinated responseto the identified local problems.

Training: Specialized training is essential for participants tokeep current on laws and trends that affect law enforcement. Tomaintain an edge in the attack on gun crime, this initiative mandatesmore expansive and comprehensive training for federal, state, andlocal law enforcement officers and prosecutors. ATF, National Dis-trict Attorney’s Association and the International Association ofChiefs of Police have partnered to create a national training mecha-nism. Also, local training initiatives have been designed and of-fered by the United States Attorney’s Offices throughout the coun-try.

Community Outreach: Community outreach and public aware-ness constitute essential components of any successful gun crimereduction plan. By conveying the priorities, message, and resultsof this enhanced enforcement effort to the media and communitymembers, the attitudes of law-abiding citizens and those who wouldotherwise believe they could violate our gun laws with impunity.The U.S. Department of Justice has launched three national PublicService Advertising campaigns aimed at reducing gun crime. Thesecond public service advertising campaign, which was launchedin late 2003, was entitled “Gun Crimes Hit Home.” The third cam-paign, entitled “Sentences: Mothers, Brothers and Sisters” wasdistributed to the national media during the fall of 2004. This cam-paign focuses on the many consequences that occur when gunsare used illegally. Local “Call-In” or “Notification” programs havebeen established whereby a violent offender on probation is calledin addressed by local law enforcement, residents, faith-based com-munity, and community resource providers. The purpose of the“Call-In” is to notify the offenders of the collaborative partnershipof all levels of law enforcement and if they choose to continue a lifeof crime, their case can be considered a federal case and therebyincreasing the sentence range and the likelihood of no parole. Atthe same time, the partnership of community resource providers isthere, at the same place, same time, to offer their services.

Accountability: Careful and consistent review of gun crimereduction efforts is necessary for an effective and proactive guncrime reduction strategy. If we are to target our resources strategi-cally, we must continually evaluate the problems we face and the

Project Safe Neighborhoods - A National Program with a Local PlanCreating Safer Neighborhoods by Reducing Gun Crime


Eleven PSN Task Forces are currently operating in the MDNC. Onedistrict-wide umbrella PSN task force and two task forces in each ofthe five PSN cities (one law enforcement and one community based).The MDNC is comprised of 23 counties, which includes: Alamance,Carbarrus, Caswell, Davie, Davidson, Durham, Forsyth, Guilford,Hoke, Lee, Moore, Montgomery, Orange, Person, Randolph, Rich-mond, Rockingham, Rowan, Scotland, Stanley, Stokes, Surry, andYadkin.

The five PSN cities/sites in the Middle District are Greensboro,Winston-Salem, High Point, Durham and Salisbury. The PSN strat-egy of the MDNC is spearheaded by AUSA Rob Lang,. AUSALang has a full caseload of violent crime felonies as well as respon-sibilities to supervise the PSN strategy. In June 2004, Mr. Lang wasawarded the National Outstanding Individual Contribution to aGun Crime Task Force Award, which was presented by the Honor-able John Ashcroft, Attorney General, at the National PSN Confer-ence in Kansas City, MO. The MDNC developed a comprehensiveviolence reduction plan in May 2000 and has been on the nationalforefront for combating gun violence. PSN has enhanced and im-proved that plan by providing additional resources to existing pro-grams and elevating the awareness of the need for a comprehen-sive and partnered endeavor. In Winston-Salem, Streetworkersand Fresh Start, a PSN supported program for job training/readi-ness have received national recognition for their work. This plan iscomprehensive and data driven involving prevention, interven-tion, and aggressive prosecution components.

The MDNC strategy focuses on gun reduction not only throughprosecution but also prevention. The full gambit of law enforce-ment communities - federal, state and local - work hand-in-handwith citizen volunteers in each of the five cities to present a unifiedfront against gun violence. Each law enforcement task force fo-cuses on investigation, prosecution and suppression efforts. Thecommunity task force focuses on providing alternative life choicesto violent offenders as well as the opportunity to work together tomake a different in their own neighborhoods.

For the MDNC, 2004 has been highlighted with a number ofsignificant success stories from each of our PSN sites. Over thepast six months, each PSN city has noted a reduction in firearmrelated violence during the same period from the previous year.PSN cities marked either a decrease in criminal homicides with afirearm, or an overall reduction in violent crimes involving a firearm.In Durham, criminal homicides with a firearm were down 13% com-pared to the same period last year. In Winston-Salem, while overallhomicides are up, overall violent crimes involving a firearm aredown some 33% compared to the same period last year. In theMDNC, firearm filings have remained fairly consistent (a 1% in-crease) compared to the previous six months - from July 1, 2003 toDecember 31, 2004, 59 firearms related cases were filed. During thesame reporting period in 2004, 62 cases were filed. These numbersreflect the continued commitment on behalf of the U.S. Attorney tocontinue to aggressively adopt and prosecute firearm cases. In2003 the MDNC ranked 5th in the Nation in gun prosecutions perAUSA. Guilty pleas or jury sentences also remained consistent forthe reporting period. Fifty-one defendants were convicted to serve

federal prison time on firearms related charges compared to 49 guiltyconvictions in the preceding six month period. These results arehaving a lifesaving effect on the residents throughout the district.

While statistics and data are interesting and appealing, the realresults are on the streets. The City of Salisbury reported only onehomicide in 2004 compared to five homicides the previous year andthe City of Durham experienced the fewest homicides in four years.Overall, violent crime rates are down significantly in Durham. InGreensboro, there were 41 homicides in 2003, but in 2004, only 16homicides. In Winston-Salem and High Point, crime rates weredown in 2002 and again in 2003. These are where the numberscount - in the neighborhoods, on the streets, where people live.

MDNC has worked hard to develop and support the five majorcity sites. The High Point Community Against Violence group isstill meeting monthly after 5 years and their partnership is strongerthan ever. Their experiences were instrumental in helping othercities throughout the district become viable PSN sites without rein-venting the wheel and losing valuable time. Under the tutelage ofHigh Point and through the efforts of that task force, The City ofSalisbury, in particular, was able to implement a PSN program inrecord time. Now, a sixth city, Burlington has expressed interest inadopting the PSN plan, and writing it into the Weed and Seedstrategy. The immeasurable success of these partnerships are thatlaw enforcement and community agencies, locals state and federalare working together better than ever before. The law enforcementpartners have improved relationships with the communities theyserve, and citizen complaints continue to fall in most of our citiesbecause community voices are heard during the process.

Because of the strong law enforcement partnerships, most ofthe guns recovered in Durham, Greensboro, High Point, Winston-Salem and Salisbury are being traced and fingerprinted and at thispoint Durham leads the state in “hits” from the NIBIN. This kind ofintelligence, cooperation and effective police work means that gunsare being taken off the streets and firearms prosecutions are up.Another component of the program is that the U.S. Attorney’sOffices have partnered with state prosecutors offices in an attemptto quickly determine jurisdiction, quickest response time and stron-gest sentencing option. All this with one end in sight - keeping theMiddle District safe and free from gun violence.

Perhaps one of the main strengths of the PSN program in theMDNC is the training offered throughout the district. The benefitsof this training are being reaped. One such result is that each of thefive PSN cities traces, NIBIN tests, and fingerprints every recov-ered firearm. This alone, is a monumental task and a critical inves-tigative tool in the fight against gun violence. Other training of-fered by MDNC in the past twelve months include 2 Rookie Schoolsand Command Staff Training in Winston-Salem; COPS School En-gagement Training Program in May 2004 and the Presentation ofPSN to Weed and Seed Retreat in Durham, June 2004, Violent Inci-dent Reviews and a PSN Program Training to 120 officers in Durham;T-SET Team training in Greensboro; and Command Staff Trainingand two training sessions for the Narcotics Staff in High Point.



Project Safe Neighborhoods, cont.Also, there have been three district-wide training opportunities inthe district - Gun Recovery & Enforcement, April, 2004, ViolenceReduction Summit - May, 2004 and Mobilization, Motivation andBest Practices Program - where 254 people from across the Districtcame to hear the renown Senior Researcher, David Kennedy of theKennedy School for Government, Harvard University. Dr. Kennedyserved as the Keynote speaker for the conference and then wasjoined by panelist from across the Middle District to describe “bestpractices” and success stories.

The overall success of the program in MDNC lies not just withthe sustained reduced levels of gun related violence over timethrough federal prosecutions but also with the continued partner-ships and strategic planning that continue to attack root causes ofcrime throughout the district. For more information on the PSNprogram in the Middle District, call Robert A.J. Lang, AssistantUnited States Attorney and PSN Coordinator at (336) [email protected]. Information is also available through yourlocal ATF office in Durham at (919) 856-4366, in Greensboro at (336)547-4221.

Western District of North Carolina (WDNC)The WDNC has a main office located in Charlotte with a field

office in Asheville. This jurisdiction serves the 33 most westerncounties to include: Alexander, Alleghany, Anson, Ashe, Avery,Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Cherokee, Clay, Cleveland,Gaston, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Iredell, Jackson, Lincoln,Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mecklenburg, Mitchell, Polk, Ruth-erford, Swain, Transylvania, Union, Watauga, Wilkes, Yadkin, andYancey.

This office has a well-established Project Safe Neighborhoodsinitiative, which was started in 2002 within the city of Charlotte, thearea of the district with the most serious and pervasive gun andviolent crime problems. A PSN Task Force was formed to steer theimplementation of the PSN plan and included the U.S. Attorney’sPSN Coordinator, representatives of the Charlotte-MecklenburgPolice Department (CMPD), ATF, U.S. Secret Service, North Caro-lina Bureau of Investigation (SBI), and Mecklenburg County Dis-trict Attorney’s Office. The District Attorney has used PSN fund-ing to more vigorously prosecute gun crime on the state level. Forexample, he designated one of the four PSN prosecutors as a full-time prosecutor of Possession of a Firearm by Convicted Feloncases in state court, and if a defendant pleads guilty or is convictedof that crime, he will go to prison and not get probation. The U.S.Attorney’s Office, on the other hand, is adopting gun cases fromstate court at a rate greater than ever before.

Under PSN, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has partnered with anumber of state, local, and private organizations. The MecklenburgCounty Fighting Back Program (“Fighting Back”) received the PSNMedia/Community Engagement grant for the district in 2002 and2004. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (“UNCC”) isthe district’s Research/Crime Analysis grantee. The YMCA ofGreater Charlotte is a PSN grantee and was funded to establish ateenage After School Program in Charlotte’s Parkwood Corridor,originally the Belmont and Villa Heights neighborhoods. (Charlotte’s

Parkwood Corridor was expanded in 2004 to include the Lockwoodand North Tryon neighborhoods.) The BRIDGE Jobs Program isanother funded PSN partner, and received a grant to fund a JobTraining Center in Parkwood Corridor. CMPD also received a PSNgrant to fund an IBIS system and operator. The U.S. Attorney’sOffice also has established unfunded partnerships with the Char-lotte-Mecklenburg Schools system, the Charlotte Housing Author-ity, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (“ATF”),the North Carolina Department of Probation and Parole, and En-ergy Committed to Offenders (“ECO”). ECO, BRIDGE and the NorthCarolina Department of Probation and Parole have partnered tostart an innovative Prisoner Re-Entry Program in Parkwood Corri-dor.

The “Parkwood Plan” was announced at the PSN CommunityKick-off in Parkwood in September 2003, and involved three phases.Phase I, which began in November 2003, involved a drive to in-crease the membership in the neighborhood associations and theneighborhood crime watches for Belmont and Villa Heights. PhaseI began immediately with a Neighborhood Clean-up, March andRally was completed by the end of December 2003. Phase II of theplan was for community leaders to survey the amount of alcoholand drug paraphernalia being sold in neighborhood grocery storesin Parkwood. Phase II required community leaders to go door-to-door in their neighborhoods and survey residents as to what typeof products they would like to see sold and would buy at neighbor-hood stores. This process was completed in 2004. Phase III of theParkwood Plan will be to engage absentee landlords in a dialoguewith community leaders to foster increased responsiveness of therental property owners to the residents and stakeholders in theParkwood Corridor.

In addition to implementing the Parkwood Plan, Fighting Backhas conducted the media campaign for the PSN Initiative, and hasmade heavy use of the Johnny Cochrane PSN PSA, having aired itboth as a PSA and as paid media on urban contemporary radiostations in the Charlotte metro area. Additionally, a widespreadbillboard campaign was launched throughout Charlotte. Two lo-cally-developed billboards have been posted; one is entitled “OneWill Get You Five to Ten” emphasizing the theme to would-be of-fenders that to do a gun crime will get them hard time. The secondgeneration of billboards that are now posted in and around Parkwoodand Freedom Corridors of Charlotte include “Do a Gun Crime - GetNew Jewelry.” Pictured on the billboard is a pair of golden hand-cuffs. These boards have stirred a lot of reaction around Charlotte.“One Will Get You Five to Ten” was nominated by the Charlotteadvertising community for an Addy Award. Indications are thatthey are reaching the intended target audience. Anecdotal evi-dence of this is that recently a defendant making an initial appear-ance in federal court on a 922(g) violation asked the magistratejudge whether he was facing “five to ten.”

The YMCA of Greater Charlotte established a PSN After SchoolTeen Program in Parkwood for middle school-aged children in thecommunity. In a tremendous example of the level of cooperationand support from the faith community, the Sherman MemorialChurch of God in Christ donated, at no cost, the building, which is



located in Villa Heights, which houses the YMCA Teen Programand the BRIDGE Jobs Program. The program is run Monday-Thurs-day 4 PM-7PM, and provides students with leadership training,character and values training, as well as, an opportunity to dohomework and receive tutoring. In January 2005, eleven additionalstudents from PSN’s newly acquired Lockwood neighborhood weresigned up to attend the Y’s after school program. The Lockwoodstudents will be bused from their neighborhood to the ShermanMemorial Church site by YMCA bus. The after-school group takesfield trips outside the center periodically to visit libraries and muse-ums, and during the summer months, ten of the students from theprogram will receive full scholarships to YMCA summer camps.

Also, the BRIDGE Jobs Program established a job-training cen-ter in Parkwood to train young people aged 16-25 in job skills.BRIDGE also offers a GED program for its students who do nothave a high school diploma. In January 2004, the North CarolinaDepartment of Probation and Parole, ECO, and BRIDGE partneredto start a PSN Prisoner Re-entry Program. ECO is a private organi-zation that helps offenders who are released from prison to prepareresumes and find work. ECO uses a case management methodwhere they assign a caseworker to each offender to guide and makesure the offender pursues employment. ECO has an excellent trackrecord, and of the offenders who stay in the program, over 90% donot re-offend within a year. The partnership between the NC De-partment of Probation and Parole has begun and will provide noti-fication to ECO of offenders who will be released from state prisonback into the Parkwood Corridor. ECO contacts the prisoners be-fore release, and invites them to enroll in the program. Thoseoffenders who do not have a high school diploma or GED are re-ferred to the BRIDGE Jobs Program. There have been a number ofoffenders recently released from prison back into the ParkwoodCorridor who were enrolled in ECO. The PSN community outreachinitiative was expanded in Summer 2004. New community outreachsites were added in the city of Charlotte. A second Corridor out-reach site, the Freedom Corridor, made up of the Ashley Park andEnderly Park communities, was established and enjoyed a success-ful kick-off celebration on October 23, 2004.

The Crime Analysis/Research grantee, UNCC, prepares quar-terly reports on gun and violent crime data in the Charlotte metroarea. UNCC has entered into a data-sharing agreement with CMPDand also accesses data from ATF. The crime data and crime map-ping from UNCC reveal that there are a number of areas within thecity of Charlotte that are consistently the worst areas for gun andviolent crime, and this has enabled the PSN Task Force to select themost needy expansion neighborhoods. The crime analysis and thecrime mapping done by UNCC is being used to drive the decision-making in the PSN initiative. First, the data has been used to iden-tify the Parkwood Corridor neighborhoods for community engage-ment. Second, UNCC’s data was used to target certain areas fordesignation as PSN police focus districts for intake of cases intofederal court. As the initiative has continued, UNCC’s crime analy-sis and crime mapping have been used to measure the progress ofPSN in reducing gun crime in the district. Based on this feedback,the PSN Task Force has been able to measure what effect the PSN

policies are having on the street and will be able to adjust andmodify any strategies that are failing to be effective. UNCC’s fol-low-through work fulfills the accountability aspect of the nationalPSN initiative. As previously noted, UNCC’s crime analysis wasalso used to determine where to expand the PSN initiative when theLockwood and North Tryon neighborhoods were taken into theParkwood Corridor, and when the Freedom Corridor was identifiedand launched.

Additionally, UNCC will attempt to identify the factors in thefocus communities which contribute to high rates of gun and vio-lent crime. As this is accomplished, the PSN Task Force wants toidentify needs in the community that may be addressed throughprovision of certain resources and services. For example, in itsinitial report, UNCC’s data suggested a correlation between gunand violent crime and proximity to the location of an ABC permittedbusiness in the Parkwood Corridor. This link between alcohol-selling establishments and gun crime is particularly interesting inlight of the density of ABC locations in Belmont.

The Community Policing Consortium put on PSN training inCharlotte. The first phase was a course presented by the Consor-tium to introduce PSN to the district. This was a course presentedto captains and sergeants in the CMPD, which was designed tofoster buy-in by police department leadership. The second phasewas joint training for the community leaders of the Belmont/VillaHeights communities and members of the PSN Task Force. Thistraining introduced the community leaders to PSN and was inter-active, culminating in facilitated small group discussions that re-sulted in the beginning of what became the Parkwood Plan. Thistraining built rapport and trust between the leaders in the commu-nity and the federal and local prosecutors and law enforcementofficials involved in the PSN initiative for the district. Similar train-ing is currently being considered for one of the district’s broaderoutreach areas outside Charlotte.

ATF presented PSN training for line officers, which introducedofficers to PSN and federal firearms laws as well as gun and con-cealed carry identification. Speakers included national ATF in-structors, and speakers from the U.S. Attorney’s Office and theMecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office. The training wasprovided to line officers of the CMPD and members of smaller po-lice departments from around the WDNC. The CMPD has followedup on this training by providing PSN roll call training to line officersthroughout their own PSN focus districts in Charlotte.

Throughout the Fall and Winter of 2004-2005, the U.S. Attorney’sOffice, working with the CMPD, ATF, and the NC SBI, has providedroll-call-style training at five district police departments for locallaw enforcement on preparing gun cases for federal prosecution,early Latino gang indicators, and methamphetamine updates.

The PSN initiative for the WDNC is now in full swing, havingmade reducing gun and violent crime our highest priority. Effortscontinue through the work of the PSN Task Force, the VCTF, UNCC,and Fighting Back. By more vigorous prosecution of gun crime,crime analysis and mapping, and community outreach; federal, state


and local law enforcement, partnered with community and faithleaders are working to take their neighborhoods back. PSN is hav-ing a definite impact on gun crime in the district with gun crimerates down since it inception. The Freedom Corridor is on theverge of enjoying the same kind of improvement to the quality oflife in those Charlotte neighborhoods.

For more information on the Project Safe Neighborhoods pro-gram in the Western District of North Carolina contact RobertGleason, Assistant United States Attorney and Project Safe Neigh-borhoods Coordinator at (704) 344-6222. His email address [email protected].

Information is also available through your local ATF office inCharlotte at (704) 716-1800.

The State of North CarolinaThe message is clear - if you do a gun crime anywhere in the

state of North Carolina - you WILL do serious prison time. In 2004the three federal districts in the state all ranked in the top 5% of thenation for federal sentences imposed for firearms related charges.61.9% of all cases charged with a federal firearms violation receiveda sentence of five or more years throughout the state of NorthCarolina. The citizens of this state, the prosecutors - both stateand federal, state, local and federal law enforcement, communityresources, schools, the state and federal judicial system, familiesand friends are all tired of the violence. Never before has therebeen such a spirit of cooperation as people are working together totake charge of their neighborhoods and make it a safer, quieter,more relaxed place to live and thrive.

FULL TEXTDespite an overall decline in the number of gun homicides dur-

ing the last fifteen years, gun crime in America remains intolerablyhigh. All told, two-thirds of the nation’s 16,000 homicides in 2002were committed with guns. Nearly half a million people are victimsof non-fatal firearm crime each year. Of particular alarm is the hightoll gun crime takes on young people. Almost one-third of thosemurdered in 2002 were between the ages of 13 and 24. Eighty-twopercent of murder victims aged 13 to 24 were killed with a gun in2002. In 2002, nearly half of all known murderers were between theages of 13 and 24, and the majority of these criminals used firearmsto kill their victims. To answer those staggering numbers, Presi-dent George W. Bush introduced Project Safe Neighborhoods, acomprehensive, strategic approach to reducing gun crime in Americathrough gun law enforcement. This approach targets gun crimeand violent offenders in an effort to make our streets and communi-ties safer. The goal is straightforward and clear - to disrupt gunviolence strategically and comprehensively, using all available en-forcement and prosecutorial tools; uniting federal, state, and localefforts; and leveraging new resources at all levels.

The Administration’s plan calls upon each United States Attor-ney to implement this national initiative in their federal jurisdic-tions by working in partnership with state and local law enforce-ment agencies. The plan is an invigorated enforcement effort thateither builds upon successful programs already in place or throughnew resources and tools, to create effective gun violence and re-

Project Safe Neighborhoods, cont.duction programs. Effective partnerships with our state and localcounterparts must be developed. Crime data must be harnessedand analyzed in order to strategically plan and measure the impactof the program. Training must be made available to federal, state,and local law enforcement officers and prosecutors. A clear mes-sage must convey the priorities and results of this enforcementthrough the media and community members. And finally, we mustbuild a powerful and lasting coalition with our citizens - one thatempowers them to be agents of change in their own communitiesand gives the community ownership not only of the program, butof their neighborhoods again. This initiative has been the numbertwo priority during both of President Bush’s term of office.

This Administration is committed to an all-out assault on guncrime and will provide the resources necessary for Project SafeNeighborhoods’ success. Over one billion dollars have been spentfor this effort over the past five years for community programs forgun violence reduction and awareness, the hiring of new state gunprosecutors, to support investigators, provide training, distributegun lock safety kits, deter juvenile gun crime, and develop andpromote community outreach efforts as well as to support othergun crime reduction strategies. The effectiveness of Project SafeNeighborhoods is based on the ability of federal, state, and localagencies to cooperate in a unified offensive that is led by the UnitedStates Attorney in every one of the 94 federal judicial districtsacross America. Through these unprecedented partnerships amongfederal, state, and local law enforcement, each United States Attor-ney will implement the five core elements of Project Safe Neigh-borhoods in a manner that is contoured to fit the specific gun crimeproblems in each district. The goal is to create safer neighborhoodsby reducing gun violence and sustaining the reduction.

There are five essential elements required for a vigorous andsuccessful gun violence reduction plan: (1) Partnership, (2) Strate-gic Planning, (3) Training, (4) Community Outreach and PublicAwareness, and (5) Accountability. Mindful of the varying prob-lems facing each district, this initiative does not mandate a “one-size-fits-all” approach that supplants effective strategies already inplace in each district. Instead, these elements will be tailored to theneeds of each individual district and the gun violence programtherein. Through Project Safe Neighborhoods, the Administra-tion will build on past successes in gun violence reduction byexpanding and intensifying the crackdown on criminals with guns,and deterring others from engaging in acts of violence.

PartnershipsThe United States Attorney in each judicial district is uniquely

situated to bring together all law enforcement agencies to ensure auniform and comprehensive approach to reduce gun crime. Thisinitiative involves every United States Attorney in the coordina-tion of all gun-related programs at the federal, state and local levelwithin the district. The tired old rivalries and competing agendasthat sometimes exist among law enforcement officials must giveway to strategic partnerships focused on community safety. Eachpartnership will form a team of federal and local officials to reviewand prepare gun cases for prosecution in the most appropriate



forum. Effective collaboration includes a full partnership betweenfederal and local prosecutions and federal and local law enforce-ment. The efforts of this partnership can be enhanced throughreceiving increased familiarity with federal and state firearms laws.These partnerships include participants from federal agencies toinclude ATF, DEA, FBI, INS, police department, sheriff’s offices,federal and state probation offices, local highway patrol officers, toname a few. A procedure must be developed to allow immediatereview of new gun arrests to determine eligibility and priority forfederal prosecution vis-à-vis local prosecution. Violent offendersfacing tough sentences must be systematically briefed to ensurethat vital intelligence is gained and disseminated. Working to-gether, officers and agents from all organizations can share dataand resources, secure witnesses and evidence, interview coopera-tive subjects and thereby provide a comprehensive response tocriminal incidents and local requests for assistance.

Strategic PlanOf vital importance to the success of any law enforcement part-

nership is the formation of a strategic plan to attack gun crime.United States Attorneys have a vast array of enforcement weaponsto use in developing those plans. The enforcement mix will dependon the specific causes of gun crime in the community, the availabil-ity of law enforcement resources, and the expected outcome ofeach approach. Although the specific approach to combating guncrime will accordingly vary from district to district, this initiativeasks each United States Attorney to incorporate three nationalpriorities in his or her strategic plan. Those priorities are as follows:

$ Increased prosecution of violent organizations usingfederal conspiracy, racketeering, narcotics, and all otheravailable laws aggressively to attack and punish violent drugtraffickers, violent street gangs, and violent robbery rings;

$ Heightened enforcement of all federal laws againstillegal gun traffickers, as well as corrupt federal firearmslicensees that supply them, with an emphasis on those guntraffickers who supply illegal firearms to violent organizationsand to juveniles; and,

$ Renewed aggressive enforcement of federal firearmslaws against those persons prohibited from possessingfirearms or who use firearms in furtherance of illegal activities,including those persons denied under the Brady Act.

Each strategic plan should reflect the three national priorities,but the individualized district plans, like the specific gun crimeproblem, will have unique features. For example, in one district, aproactive plan to target domestic violence may be appropriate, whilein another district, a strategic plan to target armed robberies may bemore productive. The goal of each United States Attorney’s plan isthe same - to reduce the levels of gun crime - but the solution willvary depending on the particular problems facing each district.

Creating a tailored strategic plan requires several steps. First,the United States Attorney and his or her partners must assess thenature and scope of gun-related crime in the district and/or themajor metropolitan areas within the district. Only by understand-ing the specific dynamics of the local crime problem can the part-nership effectively deploy resources to make a lasting reduction incrime in the district. Having identified the most significant prob-lems, United States Attorneys and their partners can develop fo-cused strategies aimed at reducing gun-related crime. The planshould be specific about its goals and the means for achievingthem.

All partners must then work together to implement the plan.Rarely will a United States Attorney’s Office, acting alone, have asignificant and lasting impact on gun crime. The most successfulplans are those that utilize the skills of each partner for a compre-hensive and coordinated response to the identified local problems.Finally, once the plan is implemented, the partnership must con-tinually evaluate it to determine whether it is having the desiredimpact. If the plan is not resulting in its intended effects, it iscritical to then reexamine the plan and the data to determine how tomodify it. Conversely, if the data indicate that the plan is having apositive impact, the United States Attorneys and their partners canensure that they continue to devote the necessary resources to theeffort.

TrainingSpecialized training is essential for participants to keep current

on laws and trends that affect law enforcement. To maintain anedge in the attack on gun crime, this initiative mandates more ex-pansive and comprehensive training for federal, state, and local lawenforcement officers and prosecutors. As part of this initiative, theJustice Department (including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,Firearms and Explosives) has partnered with the National DistrictAttorneys Association, the International Association of Chiefs ofPolice, and local law enforcement to conduct innovative regionalcross-training involving prosecutors, agents and officers involvedin gun crime cases. This training addresses firearms identification,safety, federal and state firearms statutes, federal and state searchand seizure laws, crime scene and evidence management, firearmstrafficking and tracing, and strategic planning.

Project Safe Neighborhoods also relies on a variety of otherongoing training programs, including, among others: (1) the annualPSN Conference; (2) Violent Crimes Seminars for federal prosecu-tors at the National Advocacy Center; (3) local firearms traffickingtraining conducted by ATF; (4) the International Association ofChiefs of Police Crime Gun Interdiction and Investigation Techni-cal Assistance Project; (5) ATF training for federal firearms licens-ees; and (6) PSN Enforcement Training on illegal firearms interdic-tion.

United States Attorneys are also encouraged to design andconduct their own training programs at the local level. The UnitedStates Attorney is best suited to organize and schedule regional


and local training so that key law enforcement personnel, bothlocal and federal, are able to develop and maintain the skills neces-sary to make this initiative a success.

Community OutreachCommunity outreach and public awareness constitute essen-

tial components of any successful gun crime reduction plan. Byconveying the priorities, message, and results of this enhancedenforcement effort to the media and community members, the UnitedStates Attorney can help shape the attitudes of law-abiding citi-zens and those who would otherwise believe they can violate ourgun laws with impunity.

Additionally, the Department of Justice has launched three na-tional Public Service Advertising campaigns aimed at reducing guncrime. The second public service advertising campaign, which waslaunched in late 2003, was entitled “Gun Crimes Hit Home.” Thethird campaign, entitled “Sentences: Mothers, Brothers and Sis-ters” was distributed to the national media during the fall of 2004. Acritical element of every local gun crime reduction initiative is anaggressive community outreach campaign that couples a strongenforcement message with prevention and education messages.At the core of these community outreach campaigns is the mes-sage of prevention, while warning criminals that they will do hardtime for gun crime. This message is already being used effectivelyacross the nation. The Department of Justice, in collaboration withthe Ad Council and the National Crime Prevention Council, hasalso developed a new PSA campaign focusing on prevention. ThePSA campaign’s theme is “When You Commit a Gun Crime, YourFamily Pays the Price”. The campaign focuses on the many con-sequences to the family from the mother’s perspective, as well asthe siblings, that occur when guns are used illegally.

AccountabilityCareful and consistent review of gun crime reduction efforts is

necessary for an effective and proactive gun crime reduction strat-egy. If we are to target our resources strategically, we must continu-ally evaluate the problems we face and the efficacy of our response,both at the local and national level.

To encourage the United States Attorneys to assess regularlythe effectiveness of their plans and the emerging trends in theirdistricts, each district will report, semi-annually, on several aspectsof their Project Safe Neighborhoods implementation efforts. Thereport provides an opportunity to describe fully the gun crime prob-lems in each district, as well as the strategies the Project Safe Neigh-borhoods coalition is employing to combat those problems. EachUnited States Attorney will be asked to report on four general ar-eas: (1) the nature of the partnerships with other federal agencies,state and local law enforcement, and the community; (2) the natureand prevalence of gun crime in the community, the strategiesadopted to address that gun crime, and how the impact of thosestrategies is measured; (3) how the local gun crime initiative isbeing publicized; and (4) whether the partnership has taken advan-tage of training opportunities and/or conducted training at the lo-cal level.

Project Safe Neighborhoods, cont.Federal or State ProsecutionsWhile it is impossible to prosecute all gun cases federally, the

threat of federal prosecution can be a powerful tool for prosecu-tors. In some jurisdictions, state prosecutors offer violent guncriminals the option of receiving a higher than unusual state sen-tence in lieu of federal prosecution, which may carry an even highersentences. Under that approach, the possibility of severe federalsanctions can be used as an incentive for a defendant to accept astrong state plea bargain. In other jurisdictions, federal officialcraft prosecution guidelines directing that only the most violentoffenders will be targets for federal prosecutions, such as armedcareer criminal and armed drug traffickers.

One benefit to having cases prosecuted federally is the strengthof federal bail laws. Federal pre-trial detention law, which permitsdetention without bond where the community’s safety is at risk,oftentimes proves more successful in detaining firearms defendants.Similarly, federal suppression law can be more favorable than con-trolling state law. Combined with tougher sentences, personscharged federally with firearms violations often face substantialincarceration. After assessing the relative strengths of state andfederal gun laws, every gun crime defendant’s criminal historyshould be thoroughly examined to determine the appropriate forumfor prosecution.

Another effective means for ensuring prosecution in the bestforum is cross-designation, where by a local prosecutor is desig-nated as a SAUSA for purposes of prosecuting federal gun casesin the district. Additionally, at a local district attorney’s request,united states attorney’s may consider assigned a federal prosecu-tor to the local district attorney’s office to assist in the prosecutionof criminal cases involving the use of a firearm.. Regardless of theapproach, adopted, federal and state prosecutions must determinethe applicable statutes and which jurisdiction provides the mostpotent punishment, taking into account the nature of the crime andthe defendant’s criminal history. The close cooperation betweenfederal and state authorities in brining prosecutions for violation ofboth federal and state gun laws may implicate the department ofjustice’s dual and successive prosecution policy, otherwise knownas the “petite policy.” That purpose of that policy is to vindicatesubstantial federal interest through appropriate federal prosecu-tions, to protect persons charged with criminal conduct from theburdens associated with multiple prosecutions and punishmentsfor substantially the same act(s) or transactions(s), to promote effi-cient utilization of Department resources, and to promote coordi-nation and cooperation between federal and state prosecutors.


FISCAL YEAR AMOUNT COLLECTED

1/01/90 - 6/30/90 107,236.18$

7/01/90 - 6/30/91 1,127,455.68$ `

7/01/91 - 6/30/92 5,102,900.87$

7/01/92 - 6/30/93 6,235,697.44$

7/01/93 - 6/30/94 5,831,408.36$

7/01/94 - 6/30/95 5,735,002.80$

7/01/95 - 6/30/96 6,021,424.25$

7/01/96 - 6/30/97 6,674,154.98$

7/01/97 - 6/30/98 4,713,135.47$

7/01/98 - 6/30/99 1,914,344.33$

7/01/99 - 6/30/00 5,045,859.45$

7/01/00 - 6/30/01 6,406,419.62$

7/01/01 - 6/30/02 8,205,269.48$

7/01/02 - 6/30/03 9,024,184.24$

7/01/03 - 6/30/04 8,468,185.40$

7/01/04 - 1/31/05 4,887,582.46$

85,500,261.01$

GROSS COLLECTIONSJANUARY 1990 THRU JANUARY 2005

UNAUTHORIZED SUBSTANCES TAX DIVISIONNORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE

As many of you are already aware, the UnauthorizedSubstances Tax Division (“the Division”) canassess a suspected drug dealer for unauthorized

substances not only that he has in his actual possession, butalso that he has admitted to previously possessing when intaxable quantities. Typically these types of admissions aremade during an interview with a law enforcement officer. Ifthe drug dealer should object to his admission-based taxassessment, the Division relies on the law enforcementofficer’s documentation of the interview to sustain the drugdealer’s tax assessment during an administrative hearing.

To document an admission, the best practice for a lawenforcement officer is to video or audio-tape the interview.If that cannot happen, then the admission should behandwritten and signed by the drug dealer. If the drug dealercannot write the statement, then a law enforcement officershould write down the drug dealer’s admission and then askthe dealer to read and sign it. All admissions must be basedon the drug dealer’s statements and cannot be based on thirdparty statements.

When conducting interviews, there are several questionsthat law enforcement officers should ask to help demonstratethat the suspect possessed taxable quantities of drugs. Thesequestions include:

When did you start dealing drugs?What is the largest amount of drugs you have

purchased / possessed at one time?What is the smallest amount of drugs you have

purchased / possessed at one time?When did you possess the drugs? (dates and times, if

possible)How much of the drug did you purchase on each

separate date and time?Where did the drug deals take place?Who are your suppliers?Who are your customers?How much did you purchase at each deal?How much did you pay for each separate amount?Did you possess the drugs in North Carolina?What is the total amount you possessed during the

time in question?Did you possess the drugs after October 31, 1998?

If the above questions are asked and answeredspecifically, it better demonstrates that the suspect is a drugdealer, rather than a general admission of, “I’ve sold tenpounds of marijuana over the last three years.” A generaladmission of this type does not demonstrate that the drugdealer should be assessed a tax, because he could have comeinto possession and thereafter sold all ten pounds in one ounceincrements, a quantity which is not taxable. Also, the suspecteddrug dealer could have possessed the ten pounds in SouthCarolina; therefore the drugs would not be taxable in NorthCarolina.

Another issue that must be addressed when documentingadmission-based assessments is whether or not the drugsfound in the suspect’s actual possession are included in theadmission. For example, if the drug dealer admits to possessingtwo kilograms of cocaine during the last month, it is necessaryto determine if that includes the four ounces of cocaine justfound in his car. As a general rule, two separate BD-4’sshould be submitted when a suspect is found with a taxablequantity of drugs and admits to an additional taxable quantity.As a result, if the drug dealer objects to his tax assessment,he has to demonstrate that he did not possess the drugs he

Admission-Based Drug Tax Assessments


actually possessed, as well as the drugs he admitted topossessing in the past.

In May 2004, the Division began circulating the latestversion of the BD-4, “REPORT OF ARREST AND/ORSEIZURE INVOLVING NONTAXPAID (UNSTAMPED)CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES”. This document has abox that must be checked if the BD-4 is being submitted as aresult of an admission. The form indicates that lawenforcement officers must submit a copy of the admissionwith the BD-4. With documentation of the admission attachedto the BD-4, the Division can evaluate the evidence andproperly assess the drug dealer. Then, if the drug dealerobjects to his assessment, the Division has reliable evidenceto present at the administrative hearing to help sustain thetax.

The goal of the Unauthorized Substances Tax Division isto generate revenue for state and local law enforcementagencies. With law enforcement’s assistance, the Divisionwill continue to be the best agency in the country at collectingtaxes on illegal drugs.

If you have any questions or if you need any BD-4 forms,please contact your local Unauthorized Substances Tax Agentor you may call the Raleigh office at (919) 733-6459.

Submitted by:Cale Johnson, Supervisory AgentUnauthorized Substances Tax DivisionNorth Carolina Department of Revenue500 West Trade Street, Suite 446Charlotte, NC 28202Phone (704) 330-4340Fax (704) 330-4341


NCNEOA AWARD OF VALORThis honor is to be awarded to the nominee who,

in the judgement of the Awards Committee, is mostdeserving of the recognition for having performedduty in the area of narcotic enforcement at a per-sonal risk of life.

NCNEOA DISTINGUISHEDSERVICE AWARD

This award is to be presented to an individual whohas made outstanding contributions in the area ofdrug enforcement during his entire career.

NCNEOA NARCOTICSOFFICER OF THE YEAR AWARD

This award will be presented to two officers, onefrom the East and one from the West, who have beenpaid members for one calendar year prior to nomi-nation. The Awards will be presented to individualswho have used innovative ideas in a drug investiga-tion. The impact of the case(s) they have investigatedon the area in which they work, the type and amountof seizures (which include United States currency andproperty), the number of arrests and convictions, etc.will be considered.

ATTACH DETAILS

OF ACTION AND CIRCUMSTANCES

FOR WHICH NOMINEE

SHOULD BE CONSIDERED FOR AWARD.

TO: NCNEOA Awards Committee

I hereby nominate:

_______________________________________

for the award of:

(indicate by check mark)

_____ NCNEOA Award of Valor

_____ NCNEOA Distinguished Service Award

_____ NCNEOA Narcotics Officer of the Year

Agency ________________________________

Title __________________________________

Nominated by __________________________

Agency/Rank ___________________________

Phone # ________________________________

NCNEOA AWARDS PROGRAMNorth Carolina Narcotics Enforcement Officers' Association

Special NCNEOA Awards will be presented to selected recipients at the Spring Conference each year.Nominations are solicited and should be submitted to the Awards Committee. The Awards Committee willconsist of the Executive Board. The deadline for all awards is March 31st of each year.

NCNEOA AWARDS PROGRAMNorth Carolina Narcotics Enforcement Officers' Association


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ThankYou

ThankYou

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A & H HobbiesAdam’s Towing

All Amer. Elec. of Brevard Inc.Asheville Hydrogardens Inc.

Barb Enterprises Inc.Barber Taulay Chevrolet-Olds

BBJ BuildingBC Race Cars Inc.

Beach TavernBethel Service Inc.Big Dawg Towing

Bobbitt Cabinet ShopBrent Cole Construction

Buffalo Builders Inc.Carolina International Fwdg.

Cold Stone CreameryComputer Trauma Ctr.

Cruise PlannersDad’s Mad Hatter Designer

Dezern’s Painting & DecoratingDHL Danza’s Air and OceanDirect Source Surplus LLC

Duplin ManagementEdwards Realtors InvestorsElite Displays & Design, Inc.

Enternational Home FashionsErnco Inc.

Exact Tile ServiceFive Star Collision Center

Flavors Urban WearFleming Auto Transporting

Food Science & Safety Consult.Forrest Services Inc.

Gasko Cleaning ServiceGillooly Inc.

Gray & Gray Design Inc.Great Smoky Mountain Tech.

Green Thumb NurseryGreensboro Plumbing Supply Co.

Heist Transportation Inc.Hero’s Subs & Deli Inc.

Hollow Ridge

Holmes Trucking Inc.Horizon Auto Glass Inc.

Houston ClarkIn Goodtimes Amusement Co.Indoor Comfort Specialist Inc.

Industries of the BlindIra Sealey, Jr.

Iredell County Realty Inc.J W Henson Trucking

James C. Whicker TruckingJericho Cable Inc.

JM World Group Inc.Johnson Pond Learning Center

Joyners B M W SpecialistsKeller’s Wines, LLC

Kevin M. Coe Electrical Contrct.Kilwin’s of Chapel Hill

Koumi ExpressL & L Installations of NC Inc.

L & S ContractingLail Welding and MaintenanceLarry Sawer Equipment SalesLifestyle Fitness Equipment

Long Agribusiness LLCM & E Seafood Company

M M G Inc.Mayflower Seafood

Medic Home Equipment Inc.Mr. Paul Mitchell

N C Corporate Connection Inc.Overstream Landscaping

Pedro Pain CenterQP&S Distribution LLC

R ConstructionRaleigh Street Pool Room

RDC ConstructionRejoice WLTC

Safeguard SecuritySermon’s Farms

Sheffield Construction LLCSky Country Transportation Svc.

Skyline Membership Corp.


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ThankYou

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Sleep UnlimitedSpellslinger Inc.

Stones School Supply Inc.Sun Options Inc.

Super Center Furniture StoreSuper Go Go Motorsports

Superior Auto BodyTerrell’s Boat Yard

Timothy K. Ellis TruckingU.S. Leisureasual Furniture

Volvo Construction Eqp. N. AmerWalt Lewis Construction LLC

White’s ConstructionWhiteside Cotton Carriers Inc.Wright Way Safe and Lock Co.

3 Way Convenience StoreE & B’s Beach Bingo

CETC Inc.Crane Building Company Inc.

Hyman EnterprisesJR Construction of Pfafftown

Master Contractors Inc.Matt Mulhern

Nippon Express U.S.A. Inc.SBS Technologies

William F. Obrien, DDSAbundant Manufacturing Inc.

Anthony C. YaczkoA2Z Publishing Inc.

Bella Marble & GraniteBuddy Scott & Company

C & B Hardwood Flooring LLCC & R Auto Sales Inc.

Carefree Service CompanyCarolina Auto Spa

Clark Cable Services Inc.Custom Dynamics LLC

Donald & Ross EnterprisesDr. Patrick F. Marsh, Sr.E D T Acquisition Corp.

Emerge Technologies LLCENO Valley Property Mgmt.

Enviro-Med IndustriesGentry Mills

Global Process Automation Inc.H and R Block

Illumaware CorporationInfinite Firm Inc.

Ingersoll and Assoc.J & S Exteriors Inc.

J. Satterwhite Builders Inc.JC’s Drywall

JL Baker MasonryLessane Properties LLCMichael Jones TruckingNag’s Head Golf Links

NC Lakefront Marketing & Maint.Network Title Agency Inc.North Carolina Sports Bar

Ott’s BilliardsRenovations & Finishing Inc.

S & J Framing Inc.Santa’s Sweets Inc.Showcase Lighting

Sofa & Seats Factory OutletSouthern Loss Consultants Inc.

Superior Waste ServicesThe Body Shop

WBIA Inc.Wirick and Assoc.

Workplace Compliance Inc.

“Pray Jesus keep the nationor the watchman shall rise

up in vain.”


MASTERCONTRACTORS

INC.P.O. Box 1235

Lincolnton, NC 28093704.576.2368

“If you can dream it we can achieve it.”Serving Lincoln and surrounding counties

• Landscaping• Grading• Water Drainage• Lawn Maintenance• Natural Disaster Cleanup• Sodding & Seeding• Lot Clearing• Tree care & removal

PRESRT STDU . S . P o s t a g e

PAIDDuluth, MN

P e r m i t N o . 1003

North Carolina NarcoticsEnforcement Officer’s AssociationP.O. Box 266Elizabethtown, NC 28337

Carolina Conference Center at Sea Trail in Sunset Beach

nc narc · 2018-01-02 · nc narc official publication of the north carolina narcotic enforcement...

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