DEA Head Battles Coke

The new special agent in charge of the federal Drug Enforcement Agency in New England sees the war on cocaine as his immediate task.

John J. Coleman, who arrived in Boston three weeks ago, said about 78 percent of the DEA's resources go toward cocaine investigations and he predicted that will stay about the same.

Coleman, a 20-year veteran of federal narcotics investigations, replaces Robert M. Stutman, who last month assumed control of the DEA's biggest office in New York after six years as New England's regional director.

Like his predecessor, Coleman views DEA's success not in the number of arrests agents make but in the quality of arrests.

"The body count is important, we can't dismiss that," he said. "But as a federal agency, we're not as susceptible to this form of measurement. We don't encourage our agents to increase the number of arrests each year just to increase the body count."

Federal agents will continue to monitor Central Falls, R.I., considered the region's capital for cocaine distribution, The Boston Globe reported.