Sheriff James Quattrone was very vocal about wanting to have only one drug task force in Chautauqua County.

“We need to get back to one drug task force, not caring about who gets the credit, but focusing on a community-wide collaboration,” Quattrone said during an October debate at The Post-Journal.

He hasn’t achieved that goal yet, but he’s part of the way there by re-establishing regular communication between the Southern Tier Regional Drug Task Force and the Jamestown Metro Drug Task Force. Quattrone told The Post-Journal’s Dennis Phillips that two Sheriff’s Department narcotics investigators are working in both Jamestown and Dunkirk police departments. As part of the task forces, an investigator is working with the DEA in Buffalo while one employee of the Sheriff’s Office supervises all five of the department’s investigators.

Trying to stanch the stem of drugs flowing into Chautauqua County takes a team effort. We don’t know exactly what Quattrone and his counterparts in municipal police agencies have done over the past six months to heal old wounds, but it’s good to see increased cooperation amongst the agencies even if there are still two physical drug task forces.

It may be preferable to have one drug task force, but perhaps the current situation is the best of both worlds. Jamestown and Ellicott are still free to operate as it needs to in its jurisdiction, but now they have new information coming in from their counterparts at the county level. This new level of communication can only be a good thing for county residents.