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MALONE — A new national law designates Franklin, Clinton and St. Lawrence counties as High-Intensity Drug-Trafficking Areas, making them eligible for extra federal funding.

The counties join a network of 17 other sites in New York and New Jersey that coordinate their drug-related criminal investigations and intelligence gathering with federal, state and local law-enforcement agencies.

The federal government will now finance the operation of the Franklin County Border/Narcotics Task Force.

Based on what similar counties received, the initial outlay could amount to at least $75,000 a year, said Franklin County District Attorney Derek Champagne.

"We used to pay for all of this with forfeiture money, but there was a county expense associated with it.

"With the federal funds, that burden to the local taxpayer to pay for the task force has been alleviated.

"This has been a huge problem for all of the states on the border geographically, where the counties and states have been feeling the tax burden for (combating smuggling) instead of the federal government," Champagne said.

"This is an awesome service regarding the shift in that responsibility onto the federal government, where it belongs."

The measure was introduced in October and sponsored in the House of Representatives by U.S. Rep. John McHugh (R-Pierrepont Manor) and in the U.S. Senate by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and former U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and approved by the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Jefferson County was also proposed as a High-Intensity Drug-Trafficking Area, but it was not included in Thursday's announcement.

"This has been a long, tough fight, but I am so glad we have finally gotten this application approved," Schumer said Thursday in a news release.

"We can already see the benefits of having this tough, effective, statewide crime-fighting network in place."

He vowed to continue pursuing the designation for Jefferson County.

McHugh said he is grateful for the designation because "cross-border drug trafficking poses a significant threat to our nation. This is one of the best and most immediate things we can do to effectively meet that threat.

"Our local leaders and law enforcement are doing tremendous work but need the additional federal resources this designation will provide to fully address this situation."

Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie was also pleased with the announcement, saying in a news release that the network "will better assist our local law-enforcement agencies in the fight against the transportation of narcotics and marijuana through Clinton County."

Another important result of the designation, Champagne said, is that a data analyst will be added to the network to compile information on how certain criminal activities interconnect so prosecutors can dismantle them.

"We're already seeing where a homicide in St. Lawrence County, one in Connecticut and two in Canada were directly related to drug activities taking place in Franklin County," Champagne said.

"This is a very complex and very dangerous smuggling corridor we're trying to eliminate with this type of coordination and resources."

It was also critical to gain the designation, he said, so the operation can be self-sufficient and continue in the border region for years, no matter who is elected to the prosecutor's office.

That way, Champagne said, there are no politics involved and the attention can remain on ending the smuggling of international currency, marijuana, cocaine and illegal aliens.

E-mail Denise A. Raymo at: draymo@pressrepublican.com