Assistant DA gives update on Compact 2020

Compact 2020’s name tells a lot about its goals and mission, according to Assistant District Attorney Ben Fuller.

When he addressed the South Shelby Chamber of Commerce during its May luncheon, Fuller said “compact” represents the promise to the county to work to eradicate drug use and “2020” represents the goal for four years of dedicated work.

Compact 2020 was established in 2016 as a program to help battle drug use and abuse in Shelby County, and since its formation, the initiative has expanded to more cities in the county and started to work with more community groups.

“Compact 2020 is addressing a problem I think we can all agree is important,” Fuller said.

The initiative has a three-pronged approach through enforcement: the drug court and with intervention and prevention. Of the three, Fuller said intervention has been a large focus. Getting involved early on and stopping an addiction before it starts, he said, can be easier than helping someone who has been addicted for several years.

To pinpoint issues within a community, Compact 2020 has created drug prevention teams in different areas of Shelby County. These groups come together to discuss the problems and potential solutions for the place they live or work.

“We have a Shelby County Drug Free Coalition; we’ve had one for many years. It’s a great organization, but the problem was that it was tough for the Drug Free Coalition to address 808 square miles and 220,000 citizens of this county with just two people full time,” Fuller said. “What we wanted to do was break it down smaller than that — smaller than countywide — break it down into the individual communities and have people involved in those communities to be the ones knocking on doors.”

Compact 2020 has community liaisons who work with these drug prevention teams and investigate leads on drug use. They use a lot of social media, Fuller said, which helps them see who is potentially using, selling or otherwise interacting with drugs.

“For better or worse, our youth today, our kids today are showing anything and everything that they’re doing to the world on social media,” Fuller said. “... Regardless of legality, regardless of who sees it, they are willing to put it all out on social media. And we are making full use of it.”

Looking into social media posts that relate to drug use or sale, including some posts as blatant as bags of pills or a bong used for smoking marijuana, helps identify where the drugs and drug problems are, Fuller said.

Other places, including a variety of cell phone applications and websites on the dark web, help facilitate communications related to drugs, Fuller said. And while the dark web might sound like something complicated, Fuller assured those at the chamber luncheon that it is not as difficult to find as it might seem.

“Our kids have access to this stuff, so it’s important that in addressing this problem and addressing this problem of drug use in our kids and adolescents, that we be as tech savvy as they are, that we use the means they are using,” Fuller said.

Moving forward, Fuller said it will continue to be important to maintain these efforts and conversations within the community. Looking at the whole picture and involving individuals of all walks of life in the conversation, he said, can help strengthen Compact 2020’s efforts.

“It’s extremely important to target the whole picture,” Fuller said.