GENESEE COUNTY, Michigan -- Two rival local agencies spent more than $2 million last year fighting drug dealers and trying to rid communities of dope.



The results: They took about $350,000 worth of drugs off the street.



A Flint Journal review of the budgets and seizures for the Genesee County Sheriff's Posse and the state police-run Flint Area Narcotics Group show far more was spent in enforcement of drug laws than the drugs are actually worth.

When it came to cocaine, for example, the teams spent $200 in taxpayer money for officers and equipment for every gram seized. The drug would typically fetch half that price on the street.

That begs the question -- Is it wise for Genesee County taxpayers to keep funding two drug teams?



"I think it's ridiculous to have two teams," said Burton resident Ashley Bosak. "With the way the economy is, you need to make cuts everywhere."



Officials with the two teams say even more drug fighting tools are needed locally. But critics contend it's a waste of money and doesn't fix the community's overall drug problem.



There's clearly animosity between leaders of the two groups.



Genesee County had only one team until 2000, when Sheriff Robert Pickell split from FANG and formed the Posse amid concerns that FANG didn't go after larger criminal enterprises. Pickell said his concerns were that FANG only went after low-level dealers and didn't address the problem of stopping the flow of drugs into the county.



FANG disputes that, saying they go after both.



Last year, Genesee County's two drug teams seized a combined 1,600 grams of cocaine, 123 pounds of marijuana and 564 grams of heroin. A variety of other drugs, including thousands of prescription pills and LSD, also were seized.



Officials point out that drug enforcement is funded by the criminals themselves, by cash seized during drug raids.



However, drug forfeiture money is only 25 percent of the Posse's overall budget of $536,000 and only 17 percent of FANG's annual $1.4 million budget.



FANG commander Lt. Mitch Krugielki said his unit has more of an impact than just getting a small amount of drugs off the street.



"A very high percentage of violent crime has drugs in its history," he said. "We're taking an offender off the street. That drug is not making it into our communities, our schools and is not being sold."



Neither drug team is a stranger to having their spending questioned. Both have seen local police agencies pull officers off their teams as cost-savings measures.



And last year, the Genesee County comptroller suggested the Posse be disbanded and one officer join FANG, which would have resulted in an annual savings of about $300,000.



The drug teams, according to budget information, are not designed to make money and have always required local, state and federal contributions to operate.



Most of the Posse's budget comes from the county's general fund budget and pays for three sheriff's deputies and vehicles. The rest of the budget is funded by the drug forfeiture money.



FANG's budget is mostly split between money from the state budget, federal grants, and dues that local municipalities pay to be part of the organization.



Sheriff Robert Pickell said the Posse is a bargain for taxpayers. The money the unit spends gets drugs off the street, puts criminals behind bars and helps get guns out of the community, he said.



"This county is a very violent county," he said. "To take the drugs away, you have to break the backs of these drug cartels. It takes a tremendous amount of work."



But some residents say there are other things to focus on. Jaime Gasperosky of Flushing said drug enforcement is necessary, but with so many other crimes, two task forces on the same issue seems like too much.



"One of the big crimes is child pornography," Gasperosky said. "We have no task force (in Genesee County) for that, yet we have two for drugs? Obviously, one would suffice."



But for those whose lives have been affected by drugs, one team is not enough.



Lee Withers of Genesee Township lost her daughter, Amy, in 2006 from an overdose of Tylenol PM. Amy Withers, 22, had been battling an addiction to heroin and users often take Tylenol PM to help them sleep.



Before she died, Amy Withers told her mother that "it's easier for someone underage to get heroin than it is to get alcohol."



The man that sold her the drugs that ultimately led to her death was never arrested and police have told Lee Withers even if he was, three more dealers would line up to take his place.



"Two drug teams are not enough," Lee Withers said "They should have everybody they can afford.



" ... My daughter had a 34 on her ACT. She was destined to great things and now she's gone. If I knew the dealer that sold to her had been put away it would make me feel a little better."



But opponents of drug task forces say the war on drugs is a losing battle and changes need to be made.



One concern is that in order to keep their funding, drug enforcement teams will go after small-time dealers more often to increase arrest numbers, while ignoring bigger crimes.



"We can't arrest our way out of this," said Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, a New York-based organization that advocates for changes in drug enforcement. "We're just continuing to arrest people year after year -- 1.8 million drug arrests last year.



"We're arresting millions of people and they're going to jail and coming back out and nothing has changed."



His organization advocates spending drug enforcement money on treatment instead and focusing on violent crimes.



But investigators says enforcement needs to continue because violent crime doesn't stop with drug-abuse treatment.



Pickell points to recent Posse cases, such as the 2007 bust of DeShawn Howard, a supplier to the Pierson Hood gang. Howard was found with 10 kilos of cocaine and $645,000 in cash when he was arrested. He is serving 15 years in federal prison for a variety of drug-related charges.



The Pierson Hood gang, which officials believe used drugs to fund their operations, allegedly were involved in dozens of murders and other violent crimes.



"If we don't get these people they'll continue to operate," Pickell said.



FANG's operators also defend their unit's expense, saying they never go overbudget and are needed to stem the drug flow. Krugielki said about half of the group's busts are small-time drug dealers and half our larger ones, such as the recent crackdown on $1.4 million of marijuana headed to the area. Either way, he said, police are getting drugs off the street.



"Who's going to do it if FANG isn't?" Krugielki said. "Uniformed officers in most agencies are overburdened and don't have the training or expertise that we do."



"If only a portion of those drugs are removed and the money someone would have spent on drugs is spent somewhere else, like the grocery story, that can only benefit the community," he said.



Robert Hughes, former supervisory senior resident agent for the FBI's Flint office, said having multiple drug enforcement players is key in Genesee County because it has numerous highways and drugs coming from Detroit, Toledo and Chicago.



"That's one reason why it's important to have lots of drug investigators," he said.

