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One of the best, most pleasant and most effective law enforcement officials in Indiana is leaving the state at the end of this month.
His name is Gayle Ruhl. He has been head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement agency here since 1969. Effective July 29, Ruhl, at age 48, is taking a voluntary transfer to be resident agent in charge of the Memphis DEA office. he requested the transfer to a warmer climate because the cold winters here aggravate a neck problem he has had for a number of years.
Ruhl's replacement will be William Kierstan, who is group supervisor of the New Orleans DEA office.
Although Ruhl's name is not a household word - in part because he deliberately keeps a low profile - among local, state and federal law enforcement officials and others who know of his work officials he is highly regarded not only as a professional in his field, but as a human being.
After leaving the Air Force in 1952, Ruhl joined a detective agency, followed by stints as a police officer in Winchester as a probation officer in Munchie. In 1961, he joined what then what was known as the Federal Bureau of Narcotics.
He was soon assigned to Chicago as a drug agent, served three years in Washington, and went back to Chicago before coming here to head up a three-man office. Over the years his staff has grown to six agents, three compliance officers and three clerical personnel.
According to Ruhl, in his early years in the drug enforcement business he was dealing primarily with a criminal element - drug pushers who were middle-aged or older who had prior convictions for murder, manslaughter or robbery. Drug usage was confined largely to minority groups and the lower socio-economic strata. Heroin, cocaine and marijuana or the primary drugs.
In the mid-1960s, there was a major change in drug use, with hallucinogens, uppers who were in high school and college with no criminal record.
"Marijuana seemed to take off like a grass fire," Ruhl said, "and instead of pounds and kilos, today we are working in tons. With heroin it was spoons and ounces in the early '60s and now it is out is in kilos.
Ruhl said the hardest part of his job has been the contact with kids in college and high school "with real intelligence and who could make something of themselves, but who get involved with drugs and blow their futures away."
"I have seen all the studies and all of the reports on what drug usage does." the father of seven children added, "but despite what they might say when you've been around these people you can see they're not as alert as they once were in much of their ambition is gone.
In recent years, if Ruhl had gotten any fulfillment out of a frustrating job it has been a feeling that he has gotten some people off our drug abuse or prevented it from spreading further.
"That's not what I got out of the job when I started," he said. "When I was younger, what I enjoyed most was knowing I was able to beat the crooks by working undercover and taking them in their own game. There was a lot of satisfaction from conning a con man.
One of the more entertaining stories Ruhl has to tell about his days as an undercover agent concerned his getting in with a dealer on the Chicago Westside shortly after his picture had appeared in the Chicago paper for having one and award as federal employee of the year. The dealer said to Ruhl, "Hey man, how long have you been with the FBI?"
Ruhl laughed and replied, "Oh, about 20 years."
The dealer laughed, pulled out the newspaper clipping with Ruhl's picture on it and said, "Man, you look just like this agent Ruhl here. If you could get a badge, man, we could go down on the southside and really rip off those peddlers down there."
A short time later, Ruhl made a bust on the dealer. He pulled out his badge and told the dealer he was under arrest. The dealer roared back, laughed and said, "Hey baby, with that badge we got it made. We're going to take those dudes now."
According to Ruhl it took six other agents to convince the dealer he really was Agent Ruhl and he was under arrest.
That is one of the lighter stories he has to tell about a nasty business. More about that next week.
His name is Gayle Ruhl. He has been head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement agency here since 1969. Effective July 29, Ruhl, at age 48, is taking a voluntary transfer to be resident agent in charge of the Memphis DEA office. he requested the transfer to a warmer climate because the cold winters here aggravate a neck problem he has had for a number of years.
Ruhl's replacement will be William Kierstan, who is group supervisor of the New Orleans DEA office.
Although Ruhl's name is not a household word - in part because he deliberately keeps a low profile - among local, state and federal law enforcement officials and others who know of his work officials he is highly regarded not only as a professional in his field, but as a human being.
After leaving the Air Force in 1952, Ruhl joined a detective agency, followed by stints as a police officer in Winchester as a probation officer in Munchie. In 1961, he joined what then what was known as the Federal Bureau of Narcotics.
He was soon assigned to Chicago as a drug agent, served three years in Washington, and went back to Chicago before coming here to head up a three-man office. Over the years his staff has grown to six agents, three compliance officers and three clerical personnel.
According to Ruhl, in his early years in the drug enforcement business he was dealing primarily with a criminal element - drug pushers who were middle-aged or older who had prior convictions for murder, manslaughter or robbery. Drug usage was confined largely to minority groups and the lower socio-economic strata. Heroin, cocaine and marijuana or the primary drugs.
In the mid-1960s, there was a major change in drug use, with hallucinogens, uppers who were in high school and college with no criminal record.
"Marijuana seemed to take off like a grass fire," Ruhl said, "and instead of pounds and kilos, today we are working in tons. With heroin it was spoons and ounces in the early '60s and now it is out is in kilos.
Ruhl said the hardest part of his job has been the contact with kids in college and high school "with real intelligence and who could make something of themselves, but who get involved with drugs and blow their futures away."
"I have seen all the studies and all of the reports on what drug usage does." the father of seven children added, "but despite what they might say when you've been around these people you can see they're not as alert as they once were in much of their ambition is gone.
In recent years, if Ruhl had gotten any fulfillment out of a frustrating job it has been a feeling that he has gotten some people off our drug abuse or prevented it from spreading further.
"That's not what I got out of the job when I started," he said. "When I was younger, what I enjoyed most was knowing I was able to beat the crooks by working undercover and taking them in their own game. There was a lot of satisfaction from conning a con man.
One of the more entertaining stories Ruhl has to tell about his days as an undercover agent concerned his getting in with a dealer on the Chicago Westside shortly after his picture had appeared in the Chicago paper for having one and award as federal employee of the year. The dealer said to Ruhl, "Hey man, how long have you been with the FBI?"
Ruhl laughed and replied, "Oh, about 20 years."
The dealer laughed, pulled out the newspaper clipping with Ruhl's picture on it and said, "Man, you look just like this agent Ruhl here. If you could get a badge, man, we could go down on the southside and really rip off those peddlers down there."
A short time later, Ruhl made a bust on the dealer. He pulled out his badge and told the dealer he was under arrest. The dealer roared back, laughed and said, "Hey baby, with that badge we got it made. We're going to take those dudes now."
According to Ruhl it took six other agents to convince the dealer he really was Agent Ruhl and he was under arrest.
That is one of the lighter stories he has to tell about a nasty business. More about that next week.