The much maligned Mountain Narcotics Criminal Investigation and Suppression (NCIS) Team is being disbanded. The local drug task force, which was a collaborative effort between the Habersham, Rabun and Stephens County Sheriff’s Departments and Toccoa Police, has been under fire ever since a toddler was injured during a drug raid in Cornelia earlier this year.
A press release issued Tuesday by White County Sheriff Neal Walden says the four law enforcement agencies will join the Appalachian Drug Task Force (ADTF) effective Wednesday, October 1, and the Mountain NCIS Team will no longer be in operation.
The ADTF is supervised by the GBI in partnership with local law enforcement agencies. It currently includes officers from White, Banks, Lumpkin and Towns Counties. The move effectively merges drug enforcement operations for the Mountain, Enotah and Piedmont Judicial Court Circuits in northeast Georgia.
The press release states the expansion of the ADTF is the result of a vote on July 14, 2014 by the existing task force board members to accept the four new agencies into the task force. Walden says, “The addition of Rabun, Habersham, and Stephens counties will enhance coordination, information and intelligence sharing, and law enforcement efforts across these two geographic areas which border each other. In addition, GBI supervision and training resources will assist in enhancing and improving law enforcement investigations and the resulting prosecutions in the Enotah, Piedmont, and Mountain Judicial Circuits.”
Under the agreement Habersham, Rabun and Stephens Counties and the City of Toccoa will adopt and utilize the same personnel assignment system and working model currently used by the Appalachian Drug Task Force. Personnel assigned to the drug task force will be selected from a pool of candidates supplied by member agencies and vetted by the GBI.
Walden says, “This effort is being undertaken in an effort to increase collaboration across jurisdiction investigations, training, and effectiveness. It is the considered belief of all officials and agencies involved that this effort will help ensure both effective and higher level investigations in the member counties and the availability of the best and most thorough training and resources.”
The announcement comes exactly four months after 19-month old Bou Phonesavanh was critically injured when NCIS agents threw a flash grenade into a home in Cornelia during a drug raid . The incident launched state and federal investigations and the case currently is being heard by a Habersham County grand jury.
The Mountain NCIS Team also came under intense scrutiny and criticism five years ago after a Lavonia pastor was shot and killed by agents during an undercover drug investigation. 28-year old Jonathan Ayers was shot and killed outside a Toccoa convenience store on September 1, 2009. The incident was captured on the store’s surveillance video. A grand jury determined the shooting was justified because Ayers tried to leave the scene as officers approached him. No criminal charges were filed but Ayers’ widow, Abigail, filed a wrongful death lawsuit and was awarded $2.3 million dollars by a federal court jury.
