Renewing COMBAT is critical to Jackson County's future

Drug abuse and drug crime were virtually out of control in metro Kansas City in the 1980s. Drug houses flourished, and streets were open markets for dealing. We didn’t have the money or manpower to fight back — until the voters of Jackson County stepped in.

Twenty years ago residents approved a Community Backed Anti-Drug Tax, better known as COMBAT. The quarter-cent sales tax bore huge results in clamping down on the drug trade, helping addicted people and steering young people away from drugs.

Voters have twice renewed the COMBAT tax since 1989. Our hard-working law enforcement and community service agencies want to be able to plan beyond the next 12 months to stay current with the needs of Jackson County. Therefore, voters are being asked on Nov. 3 to renew COMBAT for another seven years.

I’ve seen COMBAT up close and can’t imagine Jackson County without it.

Let’s start with our children. COMBAT opens their impressionable eyes to a real monster: drugs. By the fifth grade, most Jackson County students attend at least 10 sessions taught by law enforcement officers in Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) classes.

COMBAT funds 42 police positions in Kansas City, Independence, the Sheriff’s office and six other cities. It covers 44 salaries in the county prosecutor’s office and 53 corrections officers at the Jackson County Detention Center to address the added arrests.

The result: 13,091 drug houses closed since 1991, 11,000 arrests and $250 million in drugs confiscated since 2002.

But COMBAT doesn’t just want to track people down to put them in jail. We want to assist those who ask for help. We established the Drug Court, where prosecutions are deferred if offenders accept treatment, stay off drugs and get a job or enroll in school. Since 2001, nearly 94 percent of Drug Court graduates have remained free of felony convictions.

COMBAT funds 25 drug treatment agencies. These agencies know COMBAT is vital. They’s why they support the Nov. 3 election.

These are its successes, but anything can be improved. In 2007, County Executive Mike Sanders appointed a committee to take an in-depth look at COMBAT and recommend improvements. COMBAT responded.

We organized into a smaller administration. We streamlined the process of qualifying for and receiving funds. Our distinguished countywide Drug Commission monitors every dollar spent. We launched a public awareness drive, a new Website, a drug crime hotline and regular community meetings.

After 20 years of gains, we’re still listening, learning, growing and changing. We plan to remain Jackson County’s best weapon in our continuing war on drugs. Law enforcement and human service agencies and our children are counting on us to be there to vote yes for them again on Nov. 3.

Stacey Daniels-Young is director of COMBAT. She served eight years on the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners, two terms as president. She lives in Kansas City.

• Most Read