Douglas County Sheriff’s Office dissolves Drug Enforcement Unit; sheriff-elect says his office won’t focus on ‘low-level users’

photo by: Journal-World File Photos

These Journal-World file photos show patrol vehicles for the Lawrence Police Department and Douglas County Sheriff's Office.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office is no longer running a special drug-focused unit in collaboration with the Lawrence police, a spokesperson said Monday.

Jenn Hethcoat, public information officer for the sheriff’s office, said via email that the office thinks the operational structure of the Drug Enforcement Unit is outdated. After much discussion with the Lawrence Police Department, the decision to dissolve the unit was finalized at the end of November, she said.

“DGSO will continue to run a special investigative unit but our efforts will focus on crimes that occur in association with drug activity in our community, not low-level users who would benefit more directly from behavioral health support than incarceration,” Hethcoat said via email.

Douglas County Sheriff-elect Jay Armbrister, who will take office Jan. 11, initiated the operational change with the support of the current administration, Hethcoat said.

“Sheriff-Elect Armbrister takes seriously his promise to imagine a new way of policing that targets the causes of crime instead of incarcerating those who are a result of the failed War on Drugs; we are excited to take what we view as the first step of many towards fulfilling that promise,” Hethcoat said.

The change won’t affect the service or protection the county receives from the sheriff’s office, she said.

The DEU has operated with officers of LPD and the sheriff’s office to investigate criminal activity related to controlled substances and to execute search warrants related to suspected violations of laws on controlled substances. That’s according to a 2015 memorandum of understanding signed by retired Sheriff Kenneth McGovern and retired Chief of Lawrence Police Tarik Khatib. In another case the Journal-World reported on in 2019, an undercover DEU officer helped arrest a man in a prostitution sting.

The officers were cross-deputized as “special deputies” or “special officers,” which gave the LPD officers the authority to act throughout Douglas County rather than just within city boundaries, according to the MOU. The unit had supervisors within both agencies.

“As with all other law enforcement operations in the county we will cooperate and share information with LPD when needed,” Hethcoat said.

Lt. David Ernst, a spokesperson for the Lawrence Police Department, was not immediately able to answer questions Monday afternoon about the change and whether LPD will continue to operate a DEU without the sheriff’s office’s involvement.

As the Journal-World has previously reported, the DEU, both law enforcement departments and the Douglas County district attorney’s office have benefited from asset forfeitures stemming from DEU investigations.

The MOU stated that in uncontested forfeitures, LPD got 40%, the sheriff’s office 20%, the DEU 25% and the Douglas County DA’s office 15%, plus expense of advertisement, of forfeitures. In contested forfeitures, the percentages were 35%, 20%, 25% and 20%, plus expense of advertisement, respectively.

Outside law enforcement agencies that assisted with investigations received 10% of the awarded forfeiture, equitably distributed from the awarded forfeited funds as agreed by the sheriff, chief of police and DA, according to the MOU.