This is in response to Chief Kevin Burke’s letter to the editor (Burke: The truth about the narcotics task force).

First, let me say that I respect Chief Burke and I find him to be a knowledgeable and honorable man. That being said, I believe his comments in the letter are a bit misguided.

Chief Burke took issue with sheriff candidate Frank Rivero’s comments about the narcotic task force. Mr. Rivero had stated he will “reinstate the drug task force which was eliminated by the current sheriff.” Chief Burke states that the current sheriff did not eliminate the local drug task force. He places all blame of the closure of the task force on the California Department of Justice (DOJ) Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement (BNE).

It is true that the funds were withdrawn by DOJ. But, why did they withdraw the funds? Chief Burke paints a picture that the only reason the task force was shut down was because of the lack of funds. He conveniently leaves out that there were numerous problems within the task force.

The current sheriff was to assign a sergeant to the task force so that there would be better supervision within the task force. The sheriff never assigned a sergeant to the task force.

Chief Burke also chose not to inform the reader that because of the lack of supervision within the unit, one of his own officers which was assigned to the task force, had been forging receipts for money which was supposedly for informants.

There are 58 state-sponsored task forces in California. Only two had their funding canceled. One of those task forces was Lake County’s. Both of the defunded task forces had internal problems and were not being run properly. The 56 remaining task forces are still in operation. If the Lake County Narcotic Task Force would have been supervised and run properly, it would still exist.

As for Chief Burke's comment that, “no elected sheriff has the authority to bring BNE back …,” and, “Deputy Rivero knows or should know this,” sheriff candidate Frank Rivero does know this. He never said he would bring BNE back. He stated he would restore the task force by redirecting current resources away from marijuana enforcement and into the task force.

One last item, Chief Kevin Burke is a friend of Rod Mitchell and is using the, “letters to the editor” as a campaign statement on behalf of Mitchell rather than a letter to the editor as it purports to be.

My name is Kip Ringen and I retired as a sergeant from the Lake County Sheriff’s Department after serving the county for 27 years. One of my many assignments at the sheriff’s department was in the narcotic task force. I was also the president of the Deputy Sheriff’s Association for 11 years and vice-president for four years, served two terms as president of the Redwood Chapter of the Peace Officer’s Research Association of Calif. (PORAC), served three terms as the state director of the Redwood Chapter of PORAC and served four terms as the state vice-president of PORAC.

Kip Ringen lives in Kelseyville.

Editor's note: The California Department of Justice issued a letter early last year, obtained by Lake County News, and quoted in a story about the changes in the task force printed in April 2009 (DOJ pulls out of local narcotic task force; local officials continue effort), that attributed the pullout from the two task forces to budget issues, which DOJ spokesperson Dana Simas confirmed to Lake County News at the time. A followup call was placed to the DOJ this week about Ringen's allegations regarding other reasons for the state leaving the task force. Spokesman Evan Westrup noted that outside of the official reasons given, “We cannot confirm or speculate on why this group disbanded.” He also noted that there are just over 40 narcotic task forces around the state. Chief Kevin Burke was contacted for comment regarding the allegations about his officers. He said he cannot respond to any accusations about personnel, because such matters are confidential.