Should there be a government agency, completely separate from the V.I. Police Department, to handle narcotics investigations and arrests, data gathering and public education? That was the question Wednesday when senators from the Committee on Public Safety heard testimony on a bill to create an agency to replace the defunct V.I. Drug Enforcement Bureau (DEB).
While Attorney General Vincent Frazer and Police Commissioner Novelle Francis opposed the notion (preferring instead a dedicated division within the VIPD), DEB agent Jay Watson, joined by United Steelworkers President Luis "Tito" Morales, argued for a separate, autonomous agency.
For many years, the bureau was semi-independent, operating out of the Office of the Governor. But the small agency had continually been plagued by corruption and ineffectiveness. In 1999, then Gov. Charles Turnbull submitted legislation to disband it, but the Legislature took no action.
Three years later, in 2002, three of its agents—more than a quarter of its staff—were indicted, along with a police officer and a corrections officer, for racketeering, extortion, and possession of drugs with intent to distribute.
In 2007, Gov. John deJongh Jr. submitted legislation to disband it as well. With no action taken, deJongh decided to effectively disband it unilaterally, by reassigning 10 of its 11 personnel to other, better-paying posts and not submitting a budget for the bureau. Watson is its sole remaining employee.
The move prompted complaints from Watson and Morales, and questions from senators. With the disbanding of the bureau a fact on the ground, Sen. Terrence "Positive" Nelson has submitted a bill creating a new, more independent version with its own governing board.
A narcotics bureau is needed, Francis testified to the committee. But using the same people from the old bureau would not rehabilitate it.
"Instead it will bring a cloud of dust and uncertainty into the [VIPD] and continue the past speculation and credibility concerns that plagued the Drug Enforcement Bureau over the years," Francis said.
Operationally, the department already has units responsible for drug enforcement initiative. Plus there are joint operations with federal authorities, such as the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force, which have led to a number of drug busts carried out by local police officers, Francis said.
According to Francis, having a separate agency would muddy the waters, making jurisdiction unclear. Instead, the commissioner said he is in the process of setting up an in-house bureau within the Police Department, with its own director.
Frazer agreed. "With no operating funds and no employees, the Drug Enforcement Bureau is an empty shell at this time, which should be legislatively dissolved and allow the commissioner to build a new drug enforcement unit [within the department]," Frazer said.
In his testimony, Morales argued the bureau was funded indirectly because the Office of the Governor had a responsibility to fund it out of its own budget. Watson testified he believed a separate agency would be more effective than one inside the department. Some of the senators were sympathetic to the notion.
"We need an independent agency taking the lead,” said Sen. Alvin Williams. " We are not serious if we are only going to depend on the [High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force]. We need a local team. A local entity that will be autonomously fighting crime.”
Sens. Usie Richards and Shawn-Michael Malone both raised concerns about creating a new semi-autonomous board, though neither said they opposed the notion of a separate drug agency as such.
"We are growing number of boards in the government," Richards said. "I am getting tired of creating more boards," Richards said. Many do not make quorums and do not operate effectively, and the governor is having trouble nominating enough volunteers to serve on all of them, he said.
Richards also questioned whether the board would have enough to do to justify meeting four times a year.
A review by the Legislature during the administration of Gov. Charles Turnbull found 110 separate boards and commissions, many of them completely defunct and many more ineffective and unable to make quorums, Malone said.
Nelson introduced his bill as an amendment in the nature of a substitute for an earlier, less detailed, somewhat different bill to re-establish an autonomous drug enforcement agency. At Nelson’s request, the committee voted to hold the bill in committee to allow testifiers and his fellow senators a chance to fully review the new version of the bill.
Voting to keep the bill in committee were Williams, Malone, Nelson, Sens. Patrick Sprauve and Sammuel Sanes. Sens. Wayne James and Celestino White were absent. Richards attended but is not a member of the committee and therefore did not vote.