Drug task force reports 83 cases, arrests in ‘89

By Stewart Warren

The North Central Narcotics Task Force opened 83 cases and made 53 felony arrests in its first year of operation, DeKalb Police said Monday.

“It think it’s outstanding when you consider that the officers that had entered had very little background and expertise in that area,” said DeKalb Police Chief Don Berke.

“The first three to four months (were spent) setting up the office and training the officers. That’s completely different from basic street work,” Berke said.

“I’d like to see more cases developed in the smaller towns” in 1991, DeKalb County Sheriff Roger Scott said.

In DeKalb, the task force seized $30,000 in cash and $37,000 worth of vehicles from drug dealers as of Dec. 31, 1989, Berke said.

One DeKalb dealer bragged to a task force agent that he sometimes distributed almost a half million dollars of cocaine per month, Berke said. The boasting led to two DeKalb residents being charged with “numerous” counts of illegal possession of a controlled substance and the delivery of a controlled substance.