All the bureaucratic battles over the Lake County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force must not disguise the need to provide a unified response to the plague of illegal drugs and gangs.

U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky's announcement Tuesday that he has secured $3 million for the Lake County HIDTA is very timely. The future of that task force has looked cloudy lately, the result of a tussle over control of the agency and the cost and location of office space.

"The HIDTA is one of the great crime-fighting resources that we have in Northwest Indiana," Visclosky said in his announcement. He helped create the agency in 1996.

"Since its creation it has taken a vast amount of drugs and weapons off our streets, put thousands of criminals in jail, and disrupted dangerous drug-trafficking organizations," Visclosky said. "I will continue to provide funding for the HIDTA to chase drugs and gangs off our streets, out of our neighborhoods and out of existence as long as the people of Lake County need its help."

One of the struggles over the agency's future is how to continue funding the salaries of the participating officers. The federal government currently pays 85 percent of their salaries. This is the last HIDTA in the nation to see that practice continue, and it is expected to end in April 2009.

The agency needs to figure out how to convince participating law enforcement agencies of the need to cover the balance of those salaries despite the difficult budget environment.

Likewise, Lake County commissioners Fran DuPey and Roosevelt Allen Jr., who currently offer free office space at the former Westwind nursing home in Crown Point, need to back down on their position that the HIDTA should pay much for that space. A token amount is reasonable, but no more. Imagine where Lake County would be without a strong anti-drug and anti-gang effort.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy, which oversees the HIDTA program, has threatened to move from the building, at a cost of $400,000. Put that money toward fighting drugs, not bureaucracy.

Finally, HIDTA needs to show solid recent evidence of progress in cracking down on drugs and gangs.

Visclosky noted the agency has made more than 3,200 arrests and has seized drugs and firearms worth a combined street value of more than $245 million since its inception. But what has it done for us lately?

Lake County Sheriff Rogelio "Roy" Dominguez was forced out of his HIDTA leadership role following a federal audit critical of the agency's performance. So now the agency, under its new leadership, needs to prove its worth.

Bottom line: The federal government needs to be involved in solving the drug problem here in Northwest Indiana. The locals can't do it alone.

A compromise is needed that shows continued federal support of the task force and local support as well, including office space and officers.