It’s long been known as the “war on drugs” and for the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Department and other law enforcement agencies, it’s a war that’s being waged every day.

“It’s difficult to quantify,” said Lt. Clint Cadenhead, commander of the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Department’s Drug Task Force, “but I will say this. Our officers are out there working every day to ensure the safety of the citizens of Baldwin County.

This daily battle follows a basic three-fold approach, Cadenhead said, education, enforcement and mental health.

Education

For Cpl. Jeff Spaller and his team of school resource/community program officers, the war on drugs is waged daily in local schools, in the classroom and in one-on-one encounters in the community.

Spaller started Baldwin County’s school resource program in 2007 and now serves as the program coordinator and officer in Central Baldwin County communities and schools.

“By getting into the schools, we’re better able to try to combat issues with kids and drugs before they get started,” Spaller said. “We can talk with kids one-on-one and help them understand the real dangers associated with drugs and other risky decisions.”

Since starting with Spaller as its only officer, the program has added three officers, Deputy David Tetreau, who serves South Baldwin County, Deputy Craig Stoffle, who serves the Eastern Shore and the Baldwin County Alternative School, and the newest officer, Deputy Lucas Jones, who serves North Baldwin County.

Tetreau is also heading up the Baldwin County Drug Abuse Resistance Awareness Program, which began this year with a pair of pilot programs, at Swift School and Magnolia School.

D.A.R.E. is a community-oriented police program. It allows police officers to partner with school staff to work toward keeping young people from using illegal drugs, alcohol and tobacco.

The “Keepin’ It R.E.A.L. Curriculum” is a multicultural, school-based substance use prevention program for students 10-14 years old. “Keepin’ it R.E.A.L.” uses a 10-lesson curriculum taught by trained officers in 45-minute sessions over 10 weeks, with booster sessions delivered in the following school year.

The curriculum is designed to help students assess the risks associated with substance abuse, enhance decision making and resistance strategies, improve anti-drug normative beliefs and attitudes, and reduce substance use.

The narrative and performance-based curriculum draws from communication competence theory and a culturally grounded resiliency model to incorporate traditional ethnic values and practices that protect against substance use.

The curriculum places special emphasis on resistance strategies represented in the acronym REAL: Refuse offers to use substances, Explain why you do not want to use substances, Avoid situations in which substances are used, and Leave situations in which substances are used.

The goals of the D.A.R.E. program are to lower alcohol, marijuana and cigarette use and to lower expectations of positive consequences of substance use.

D.A.R.E. is a teaching program designed toward fifth graders, also conducting parent outreach programs and supplemental lessons the following school year.

The Baldwin County D.A.R.E. program will hold its first graduation ceremony March 27 at the Baldwin County Coliseum in Robertsdale.

In addition to the D.A.R.E. program, the School Resource and Community Relations officers also assist with Red Ribbon Week programs in all Baldwin County schools.

Red Ribbon Week was established by the National Family Partnership, formerly the National Federation of Parents for Drug Free Youth. The nonprofit was formed as a grassroots organization in 1980 by a handful of concerned parents.

Spaller also started the Shining Star camps which are conducted throughout the summer at local schools and is a way for local law enforcement to interact with young people in the community in a positive way.

The camps are open to boys and girls ages 8 to 13, and were established to promote a positive interaction between the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office and children in Baldwin County. The purpose is to build life skills instill confidence and develop self-esteem.

The curriculum will include a wide range of activities that will incorporate teamwork, physical fitness and general information about the sheriff’s department.

“Finding a way to interact with kids and help them see law enforcement as someone who is there to help them has been very beneficial,” Spaller said.

Since beginning the program eight years ago, more than 2,500 boys and girls have attended one of three Shining Star camps, at Fairhope Intermediate School, Central Baldwin Middle in Loxley, and Baldwin County High School in Bay Minette, and a fourth camp in Spanish Fort will be added this year.

Enforcement

The Baldwin County Sheriff’s Department’s Drug Task Force has been on the front lines fighting the war on drugs since 1986.

The DTF includes deputies from the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Department, and municipal police officers in Daphne, Fairhope, Gulf Shores, Loxley, Bay Minette and Orange Beach.

The DTF also includes an officer which works directly with the federal Drug Enforcement Agency in Mobile and the U.S. Attorney’s office in order to try cases in the federal court system.

Officers in the DTF are authorized to go beyond the regular borders, patrolling major highways such as Interstate 10 and Interstate 65. Officers are trained in what to look for during routine traffic stops and are authorized in search and seizures for major drug trafficking.

“What you’re seeing is that narcotics are being shipped in to the Southwest and they are using Interstate 10 and Interstate 65 as main trafficking routes with Atlanta as a major hub,” Cadenhead said. “Our major job as an enforcement agency is to disrupt those supply lines and get those drugs off the streets. Our officers are on patrol 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is definitely not a 9 to 5 job.”

Narcotics such as cocaine, I.C.E. and methamphetamines remain prevalent, Cadenhead said, while officers continue to watch for increasingly popular drugs such as heroin.

“Heroin has not really taken off here like it has in other areas,” Cadenhead said, “but it’s something we’re definitely keeping our eye on.”

Domestically, drugs such as marijuana and the simple shake-and-bake methamphetamine laboratories also remain popular, Cadenhead said.

Mental health

The mental health aspect of the war on drugs in Baldwin County is fought through the Baldwin County Drug Court.

According to its website, baldwindrugcourt.com, the drug court is a special court given responsibility to handle cases involving substance-abusing offenders through comprehensive supervision, drug testing, treatment services and immediate sanctions and incentives. Drug court offers individuals facing criminal charges for drug use and possession an opportunity to enter a substance abuse recovery program instead of straight jail time.

The requirements of drug court include frequent drug testing, attending substance abuse recovery meetings and regular court appearances.

Judges, prosecutors, defense counsel, substance abuse treatment specialists, probation officers, law enforcement and correctional officers, education and vocational experts and community leaders, among others, are all involved in the drug court process.

A candidate who gets through all parameters imposed by the drug court graduates with their sobriety resulting in the dismissal, reduction (or set aside) of their offense, or with a lesser penalty or a combination thereof imposed.

Baldwin County’s drug court is presided over by Circuit Court Judge Scott Taylor.