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Federal money to help with local drug, gang problems

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Robert Spoden

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Photo by Bill Olmsted

U.S. Senator Herb Kohl speaks at Janesville's Noon Rotary Club meeting.

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Russell Feingold

JANESVILLE — New federal funding will help law enforcement address drug and gang connections between Rock and Dane counties, the Rock County sheriff said.

Sheriff Bob Spoden said he expects to get $35,000 to $38,000 this year to pay for overtime or equipment that would boost a partnership between the two counties’ sheriff’s offices.

The counties are forming a joint task force to address the issue of drugs traveling between the counties and the gangs that operate in both counties, Spoden said Tuesday.

The money comes from the Office of National Drug Control Policy, which has included Rock County in the Milwaukee High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. Dane County is also part of the area.

Rock County was previously turned down for the designation, but U.S. Sens. Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold went to bat, and they recently announced the decision has been reversed.

One argument by Spoden and the senators was the recent concerns about increased drug arrests and heroin overdose deaths in Rock County.

This new designation allows law enforcement in these counties to work with Milwaukee HIDTA and together to target drug trafficking and violence, according to a news release from the senators.

“Sheriff Dave Mahoney and I have already had preliminary discussions on how to combine our resources,” Spoden said of his Dane County counterpart.

All members of the Rock County Special Investigations Unit can receive funding and other resources from the HIDTA. SIU members include Milton, Edgerton, Evansville, Clinton, Beloit Township and Orfordville police.

“The help of both Sens. Feingold and Kohl was crucial in getting this moved forward,” Spoden said.

The senators teamed up last fall at Spoden’s request. They wrote a letter in support of Spoden’s application, citing Rock County’s location between drug traffickers in nearby big cities and the recent increase in heroin infiltrating the area.

The letter said that at least eight gangs had been identified as trafficking in crack cocaine and/or heroin in the county and committing violent crimes to protect their drug operations.

The new designation makes Rock County eligible for overtime funding, access to surveillance equipment, free training, access to officers from other counties for special operations, access to federal intelligence analysts and databases and relations with other High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas, such as the one based in Chicago.