The Kings County Sheriff's Department and all three area police departments are using a federal grant to beef up drug enforcement this coming year, putting more investigators on the task force while fulfilling some equipment needs. The new funding came to light this week when the Hanford City Council unanimously approved Police Chief Carlos Mestas' request to use the $151,986 grant to add an investigator position in the Narcotics Task Force, a multi-jurisdictional law enforcement group combating drug crimes in the area.

The appropriation was part of a $607,945 grant awarded to Kings County, which was split four ways among the sheriff's department and three police departments, Mestas said.

Both drug sales and trafficking are major problems in Kings County, especially involving methamphetamine. Sixty-five percent of narcotics arrests in the county were related to meth last year, according to authorities.

Despite the enormity of the problem, the task force has not added any staff since its inception.

"There has not been an additional investigator for the narcotics task force for over 20 years," Mestas said. "With each agency providing one investigator, there are only five narcotics officers.

"The county has grown tremendously," he added, "and of course, the trafficking of narcotics has grown."

With the appropriation, the Kings County Narcotics Task Force will double in size, officials say.

Mestas gives a lot of credit to Corcoran for aggressively going after federal money. The city first approached Rep. Jim Costa, Kings County's congressman, through a lobbyist a year and a half ago, initially seeking federal money to pay for an additional drug enforcement officer in south Kings County, Mestas said. Costa then decided to open the opportunity up to the entire county, and Kings ended up receiving $607,000-plus in funding.

But this is a one-time grant; there is no guarantee that Kings County will receive the money every year.

This has raised some concern among City Council members.

"My concern is, we can bring on an officer, but what happens if the funding is cut off?" said Mayor David Ayers.

If the funding is not renewed, Mestas said, Hanford police will pull the newly added officer from the task force assignment and absorb the position through a vacancy in the police force.

The grant was just the first half of the money requested from the federal government.

The law enforcement agencies of Kings County are hoping to receive the other half of sometime in the next fiscal year to boost the staffing level of the Gang Task Force.The reporter can be reached at 583-2429.

(Dec. 7, 2008)