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This is the second time in 10 days that we've had a story that the DPD is working with the FEDS !!!

http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-767865.html

CHIEF says police, FEDS work together

By RAY GRONBERG, The Herald-Sun
September 8, 2006 12:15 am

DURHAM -- Durham police and federal law enforcement agencies are working together and getting results, despite the impression created by a recent spike in violent crime, Police Chief Steve Chalmers and a federal prosecutor said Thursday.

Over the past six months, cities throughout central North Carolina have seen a sharp rise in the number of armed robberies -- a likely symptom of the street-corner drug trade, said Rob Lang, an assistant U.S. attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina.

But Durham is ahead of the others in working with federal agencies to break up drug rings, quell the trade in illegal firearms and secure long prison sentences for lawbreakers, Lang told the City Council.

"Some of the things you're doing here I use in presentations to other city councils to shame them into doing them, too," Lang said, singling out the city's efforts to trace guns. "To me as a career prosecutor in this business for 21 years, many of the fundamental steps at the baseline are being done here in Durham."

Chalmers said 11 Durham police officers are working directly with federal agencies like the FBI, and that joint operations with federal authorities had produced the arrest and conviction of 151 people since January 2005.

Thursday's briefing came about a month and a half after Councilman Thomas Stith questioned whether police and city officials are working aggressively enough in conjunction with the federal government to quell the recent rise of gun crime.

Statistics from the first quarter of the year showed, among other things, that aggravated assaults involving guns had jumped by almost 36 percent and robberies involving firearms had risen by 69 percent.

Stith -- a potential mayoral candidate next year -- said in July that the statistics show Durham's crime-control efforts aren't working as well as Mayor Bill Bell and other officials would like to the public to believe.

But Lang said Durham's violent crime statistics had been going in the right direction until the recent spike, dropping 34 percent since 2000. The current problems also are apparent in Greensboro and Winston-Salem, he said.

"This year it's not been good, but it hasn't been good anywhere," he said.

Chalmers added that he's not inclined to make wholesale changes in the Police Department's approach.

"We are using our resources in a very efficient and effective way," he said. "I do not believe in changing a horse in midstream unless it's just broken down. The horse we have is not broken."

The comments from Chalmers and Lang touched off a wide-ranging discussion about crime-control strategy.

Lang led off by saying prosecutors in the Middle District haven't used the federal RICO racketeering and corruption statute to try to quell gangs and drug-distribution networks and are reluctant to start because U.S. Department of Justice lawyers in Washington keep a tight rein on such prosecutions.

RICO investigations take years to complete, and Middle District prosecutors believe they can get quicker results by invoking federal narcotics and conspiracy statutes, Lang said.

Asked how local crime-control efforts stack up against others in North Carolina, Lang also said District Attorney Mike Nifong's office appears understaffed compared to those in other jurisdictions of similar size.

"They're overwhelmed in the state prosecutor's office here," he said.

Stith and Councilman Eugene Brown both made it clear they're concerned about crime among Hispanics. Chalmers responded by saying that one of the first jobs assigned to a newly hired crime analyst is an effort to learn how Hispanics figure in the city's crime statistics, both as perpetrators and victims.

Councilman Howard Clement raised questions about a recent operation in East Durham mounted by the Durham County Sheriff's Office, saying that while cooperative efforts are welcome, he's heard complaints about the effort from rank-and-file members of the Police Department.

Consultation -- and the alleged lack of it -- was the apparent reason. And Chalmers did not deny that there was unhappiness in his department.

"The sheriff's department, when they go into an area, they consult with the Police Department?" Clement asked.

"I think that's the way it should be," Chalmers responded.

"That's quite an answer, chief," Clement said. "Is that the way it is?"

"Not always," the chief said. "With the Durham Police Department, the buck stops with me, and with the sheriff's department it stops with Sheriff [Worth] Hill. Any concerns I have, I'll address with Sheriff Hill. He and I have had some meetings."

Chalmers conceded in response to a series of questions from Stith that the Police Department could do more to publicize operations like a recent prostitution bust that closed several brothels in North-East Central Durham, to send a message to criminals that the city won't put up with them.

But he said the department many times chooses to keep quiet about operations to preserve the option of expanding investigations, on its own or in conjunction with federal authorities. It prefers to keep information compartmentalized, and is careful about what it shares.

"Even within the Police Department, I don't want them to tell me everything until it's time," Chalmers said, apparently referring to the officers who work with federal agencies like the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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