The DeKalb Police Department has implemented a Drug Investigation and Enforcement Unit to combat domestic violence by substance abusers.

DeKalb Police Sgt. Charles Kross said the task force is operational but that he was “not going to say a lot about the task force.”

A document released by the police department this summer states a police detective will be assigned full time to the drug enforcement task force.

The officer’s main job will be coordinating and analyzing all drug information, the document states. The officer will be responsible for establishing connections between users, small drug dealers, major drug dealers and working with drug informants and other enforcement agencies, it states.

At the Nov. 28 DeKalb City Council meeting, an additional police officer and vehicle were approved for the force by the council at a cost of about $43,500 per year, according to an article in the Nov. 29 issue of The Northern Star.

The designated officer will work with four to five officers from DeKalb County, the University Police and the State Police, the article states. An officer and a vehicle will be allocated from each jurisdiction.

Police Chief Joe Maciejewski said at the council meeting that the state would provide a supervisor and clerical help. He said cash funding for undercover drug buys and specialized training for the unit also will be provided by the state of Illinois.

The police document states, “Drug abuse and attendant or resulant criminal activity is a major problem in DeKalb.”

The document states that a local shelter center spokesman said substance abuse is related to many domestic crime cases being accepted by the center.

Ben Gordon Mental Health Center, 12 Health Services Drive, reports 280 people under 18 years of age were treated for substance abuse in the past 12 months, the document states.

DeKalb’s aggravated battery encounters have doubled in the last five years, and the city’s total crime index for major crimes has increased at a rate of 10 percent in the last three years, the document continues.

It states an increase for this type of crime has been “to a great degree” linked to a rise in substance abuse.

“From October 1987 through April 1988, the police department has initiated 14 drug cases involving 19 defendants on 20 felony counts,” according to the document.

In 1987, the police department investigated 22 drug-related cases. In 1972, the last year the department had a full-time drug enforcement officer, 42 cases and arrests were made, the document states.

Two homicides were recorded in DeKalb from 1970 to 1985, three in 1986 and one in 1987, the document states. In four of these cases, the perpetrator and/or victim were substance abusers, it states.

One or two drug-related tips are forwarded to the police department every day, but most are not documented because of lack of personnel, according to the document.