ShareThisWhat kind of drug czar would Gil Kerlikowske make?
With a Mexican drug war threatening to destabilize America's southern neighbor and its violence spilling into 230 U.S. cities, that's the question on policy makers' minds as his nomination to be the next head of the White House's anti-drug office faces Capitol Hill scrutiny.
Kerlikowske -- who served as the police chief in Port St. Lucie, Fla. from 1987 to 1990 and as the top cop in nearby Fort Pierce from 1990 to 1994 -- isn't saying: His lips are sealed ahead of Senate confirmation hearings, expected later this spring.
But there are several clues about how Kerlikowske, 59, would lead the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Experiences personal and professional lead experts to think he would be more pragmatic than previous drug czars.
From his stepson's drug problems to his enforcement of a Seattle policy making marijuana the city's lowest law-enforcement priority, Kerlikowske is described by co-workers and drug policy experts as a cross between a professor and a beat cop: An innovator who also has real-world experience.
"He's a traditional police officer who understands policing," said Seattle's city attorney, Tom Carr, who worked with Kerlikowske from 2002 through 2008. "But if you meet him, he's almost like a professor."
In Seattle, where Kerlikowske has served as police chief since 2000, he supported drug prosecution -- along with prevention and treatment -- as a comprehensive drug strategy, Carr said.
Kerlikowske's battle against drugs hits close to home. His stepson, Jeffrey Kerlikowske, 39, was arrested in 1998 for possession of marijuana, Florida records show. Jeffrey Kerlikowske was also arrested this February in Martin County on a parole violation related to two felony battery charges, and is being held in the Broward County jail. Kerlikowske's attorney declined to comment.
In the March 11 formal announcement of Gil Kerlikowske's nomination, the 36-year law enforcement veteran said his stepson's problems brought him personal understanding of the toll illegal drugs can take.
"Our nation's drug problem is one of human suffering, and as a police officer but also in my own family, I have experienced the effects that drugs can have on our youth, our families and our communities," Kerlikowske said.
As police chief of Port St. Lucie, Kerlikowske modernized the force, adding officers and streamlining operations, said Shirley Conti, who served on the Port St. Lucie City Council from 1986 to 1990.
"He brought it out of the dark ages," Conti said of the police department.
Aside from serving as the police chief in Seattle, Port St. Lucie and Fort Pierce, Kerlikowske has national qualifications. He heads the Major Cities Chiefs Association and served as the former deputy director for the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.
Kerlikowske's views on drugs were put to the test in 2003, when Seattle voters passed an initiative making the arrest and prosecution of adults who possess marijuana the city's lowest law enforcement priority.
Supporters of the initiative approve of how Kerlikowske's Seattle police implemented it. Following the measure's passage, marijuana arrests declined, and Seattle police largely looked the other way at the annual Hempfest, a Mecca for marijuana supporters and users.
"He's never stood in the way," said Dominic Holden, an activist who worked to pass Initiative-75 and is a former Hempfest organizer. "He's uncommonly willing to take a hands-off approach," Holden said.
If confirmed, Kerlikowske will face an exploding drug war in Mexico. Violence between cartels vying for control of the drug trade in northern Mexico and beyond has resulted in nearly 7,000 drug-related murders since the beginning of 2008.
If confirmed, Kerlikowske would head an executive office created in 1988. With little definite authority, the drug czar's office serves mostly as a bully pulpit. In the past, the position has been criticized as valuing politics over policy.
Obama is removing the office from the Cabinet-level designation it carried during President George W. Bush's two terms, which would weaken Kerlikowske's influence and reach compared to previous czars.
Before being tapped for the national post, Kerlikowske had been an active proponent of community policing, including an innovative drug policing strategy, Carr said.
In collaboration with High Point, N.C. police and David Kennedy, a criminologist at John Jay College in New York City, Kerlikowske implemented a strategy that rests on giving drug dealers a second chance. Police gather evidence and build cases against drug dealers. But instead of arresting them, the cops offer to let the dealers off the hook -- if they change their ways.
""If they change their lifestyle then they get a second chance, if they don't heed the warning then they are prosecuted to the highest letter of the law," according to a description of the strategy on the High Point Police's web site, www.high-point.net.
Seattle's police department under Kerlikowske has tried other alternative drug-enforcement tactics, as well. A sergeant set up a help table half a block away from an open-air drug market, according to marijuana initiative advocate Holden. In essence, the cop had created an arrest-free "safe" area.
"Kerlikowske could have easily stopped that," Holden said. "He didn't. That was the incubation of a growing movement toward pre-arrest, diversion programs."
E-mail Isaac Wolf of Scripps Howard News Service at wolfi(at)shns.com.
