In four short months, Carbon County District Attorney Jean A. Engler has done a lot.

Since being sworn in as the county's first female district attorney on Aug. 29, she has had to learn the responsibilities that come with the county's top prosecutor spot while maintaining a growing caseload, managing her staff and working to fight the drug epidemic plaguing the county.But even though the days are busy and the hours grueling, Engler loves what she does."It's never a dull moment here," she said recently. "It's been interesting."The spot, held by Gary Dobias, until his retirement in August, has typically been filled by men."There have been a lot of positive responses from the citizens, not just women, but the men too, so I'm gratified to hear that a lot of the citizens are happy to see a female in this role."Engler said there have been some challenges that she has had to face over the past few months, but she has many accomplishments that she is proud of as well.Drugs addictionsThere has been an increase in the number of cases handled in the courts over the past few years, and many are drug related in some way."It is deceptive to just look at drug or DUI cases because so many assault, burglary and theft cases involve an underlying drug problem," Engler said. "People are sadly stealing to support their drug problem, burglarizing homes to support their problem or assaulting family members because they are unable to get money to buy their drugs."We're finding an increase in the number of cases where people are selling drugs to make money to use them."The most popular drug of choice, Engler added, is a scary one.Heroin, which is inexpensive but highly addictive, has been the number one drug in Carbon County for approximately the past five years."That is such a change from when I started 26 years ago," Engler said, noting that in the '80s and '90s, marijuana and cocaine were the drugs of choice.A shift to methamphetamine and crack happened in the '90s and were considered the county's most serious drugs until heroin became more popular a few years ago."Since then it has just become this enormous problem," she said. "We still have some meth and some crack and marijuana, but heroin is just it anymore."The odd thing is that even though cases of possession of straight meth are down in Carbon, the number of meth lab busts have been increasing.To help combat this problem, Engler's office, as well as Carbon County officials, have taken proactive steps to find creative solutions and decrease the number of drug-related cases moving through the courts.Drug tip lineIn September, Engler announced the establishment of the Carbon County Telephone Drug Tip line, which allows residents who have witnessed drug activity in their town to file an anonymous tip with law enforcement.To date, over 50 referrals have come in, all of which have been or are being investigated, Engler said, adding that the goal of the line is to show the public that there is somewhere to go to report these types of problems.But people who provide a tip must also be patient because it takes time to develop a case against a person.Expanding operationsHer office also expanded to include county detective Jeff Aster, who deals specifically with drug cases.Aster has recently taken charge of stepping up forfeiture efforts. That means that if money or items are seized from someone who has been arrested for engaging in a criminal enterprise, the district attorney's office can file a petition in court to ask to have the funds forfeited to the office."We can then use those funds for drug education; for assistant district attorney, district attorney or police schooling; salaries, which we have traditionally done for a secretary and accountant for the drug task force; for equipment and things like that," Engler said. "All of this eases the burden on the taxpayers."Over the years, the county has received vehicles from forfeiture efforts, which are used for personnel or undercover operations.Drug treatmentEngler pointed out that beginning this year, Carbon County will provide a full-time drug counselor at the prison through a contract with the Carbon-Monroe-Pike Drug and Alcohol Commission.The counselor will provide in-house treatment and counseling sessions to inmates who qualify for the program."Hopefully we will see some results from this," she said.The county added the Medical Assistance Pilot Program at the prison to help get people qualified for medical assistance into rehab immediately following their incarceration.The district attorney's office also almost always never turns down a person who is willing to go into an in-patient rehab as opposed to being incarcerated."We're usually always willing to try this," Engler said. "This year we will work to try and find other creative solutions as well."Court movementIn addition to drug-related issues, Engler has been looking at implementing how her office moves through the filing system.Currently, all criminal complaints, whether felony or misdemeanor, filed in Carbon must be approved in the district attorney's office. Sometimes the amount of complaints build up.Engler has been working to streamline the process, which results in easier schedulings at the magistrate and court levels."I've found with three full-time assistant district attorneys that we are trying to not let any complaint sit for longer than a day or two," she said. "They review them and then either approve them or send them back to police for further investigation. This helps move things along."I have been hearing that the magistrate schedules are a little more regulated and it's better for the magisterial judges. We're making an effort."In addition to quicker approvals of complaints, Engler has also helped lift the prohibition of transport during lockdown times at the prison on preliminary hearing days. This now allows police to be able to pick up inmates during lockdown times and get them to their hearing without delays.Looking forwardEngler said more needs to be done in 2015.She would like to look at ways to decrease the backlog of trials and will also be running for election in the upcoming primary this May.She credited her staff with making the last four months an easy transition and can't wait to see what this years brings."They bring with them a lot of long-term experience and do a great job," she said.